


The Human Soul on Fire

by Alien_Ariel



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: (eventually) - Freeform, F/M, Female Reader, Fluff, Humor, Reverse Harem, Self-Insert, Sexy Fluff, Smut, but just like a smidge, but reader has a name and personality, we all know why we're here, writer changes some backstories, you know how it is
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-08-14 12:18:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 53,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16492463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alien_Ariel/pseuds/Alien_Ariel
Summary: Their life at the state park's lakeside hotel wasn't easy, but hell—at least it was stable. Well, stable enough. At least most of them were now drinking for fun instead of out of a depressing need to forget the bullshit of their current reality. But then the geezer who owned the place had to give up the figurative ghost. Great.When Herbert had died last week—heart attack, apparently—Sans had figured one of two possibilities: One, that the government would find the legal loophole it’d been searching for to officially annex the hotel and solidify its already vicelike grip over their freedom; or two, that they’d be allowed to squat in it unbothered following the passing of the owner.One option was the fatalistic worst-case scenario, and the other was an obvious pipedream. What they got was Taz.Eventually they'd all come to appreciate their unusual good luck in finding the equally unusual girl. But for now, all the residents of the hotel are just trying to figure out what the hell is off about her. And it's not a short list.--------------------------------------Taz has secrets, but she's more than willing to share. Now if only her housemates would just ask the right questions.





	1. Prologue: Classy

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Skeleton Squatters and the Landlady](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9816140) by [Tyrant_Tortoise](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tyrant_Tortoise/pseuds/Tyrant_Tortoise). 



> Hi all! So happy to have you here checking out my story! This is something new for me, but I've been planning this story for what feels like aaaaages now. I've got basically all the prologue written and typed, with postings every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (today's the exception).
> 
> Taz, the main character, does have a name and backstory, but I do intend for this to be a self-insert; I'm just not a fan of the y/n thing, because it doesn't feel immersive to me. That said, the first 10 chapters will be in 3rd person, because I find the skelebae's first perceptions of her to more interesting than hers of them. I mean, we're all here for a reason; we all already know we think they're cute and smoochable.
> 
> Also, this story is obviously inspired by TyrantTortoise's "Skeleton Squatters and the Landlady," as well as "Six Skeletons in Your Closet" by MsMK. Go check them out for some amazing AU fun.
> 
> Comments are appreciated! I love to hear what you liked and what can be improved upon. :)

**The Human Soul on Fire**

_Chapter 1- Classy_

 

This entire ordeal was going to make Sans finally lose it, he just knew it.

He couldn’t be sure when exactly it would happen. Or how bad it would be—maybe he’d just snap, like Error had. But regardless, he couldn’t foresee any chance he’d survive this new change in landlord.

Stars, he’d surely dealt with worse stress than this before—he’d have thought Frisk’s multitudinous resets would trump anything after that final pacifist ending, but he’d apparently be wrong in thinking so, given his currently skyrocketing nerves.

And all over some 20-something kid he’d never even heard from, much less met, before: their new landlord. _Landlady_ , actually.

When Herbert had died last week—heart attack, apparently—Sans had figured one of two possibilities: One, that the government would find the legal loophole it’d been searching for to officially annex the state park’s resort hotel they were all currently occupying to solidify its already vicelike grip over their freedom; or two, that they’d be allowed to squat in it unbothered following the passing of the owner.

One option was the fatalistic worst-case scenario, and the other was an obvious pipedream.

What they got was Taz.

She was Herb’s niece: youngish but apparently capable— _or at least willing_ —to play host and landlord for twenty plus skeleton monsters in the secluded lakeside resort.

As Sans watched her, flailing about wildly as she was to the cacophonous music playing on her car stereo—rocking the whole vehicle dangerously side-to-side in her enthusiasm—he began to realize it was almost definitely the latter.

 _Willing_ , that is. He’d doubt her even capable of _finding the place_ from seeing her now, but nevertheless she’d shown.

She may have been loitering in the parking lot for the past ten minutes, windows rolled up and stereo blaring, but hey: she’d gotten here.

Hooray.

_Asgore give him strength._

Finally her song ended. It was either a very long song or she’d played it twice—she was odd enough that Sans didn’t immediately discount that option. She reached to click off the engine, exiting the car and beeping it locked with the remote without further delay. Sans had kind of expected her to spend another while fixing her hair or something in the mirror, as she’d certainly mussed it up plenty from her ecstatic thrashing, but she surprised him.

“Oh. Hey there, new tenant!” she called brightly with a hand held aloft as she noticed him waiting for her under the chalet entrance’s grand wooden awning. She shoved her keys unceremoniously into a lumpy army-green satchel slung across her body as she approached. Sans wanted to bristle at the term, but she was at least smiling at him.

Keep it cool. Keep it casual.  Herb was agreeable enough; hopefully this girl would be the same caliber of human.

“ _cello_ to you too. i’d say you look like _treble_ , but I gotta admit that type of music isn’t really my _forte_ , so i wouldn’t know,” Sans laid the puns on extra thick to test the waters. They lacked his usual genuine humor, but hey: She’d made him wait; she hadn’t earned the top-tier ones.

Her eyebrows knit together as she joined him in the shadow of the promenade and took in the sight of him. It lasted only a sliver of a second before her eyes boggled excitedly, “Ooh, are we telling shitty music jokes, then?”

Wow, double insult.

Even Sans’s worst ones weren’t shitty, and, _even worse_ : “they’re puns, kid—”

She wasn’t listening and cut him off, “What do you get when you drop a piano down a mineshaft?”

“i dunno, what?” Sans asked, humoring her despite his metacarpals flexing in annoyance inside the pockets of his blue hoodie.

“A-flat minor!”

She was giggling so loudly at her own terrible joke that Sans found himself warming to her. Just a little.

“ok yeah, i’d be a _lyre_ if i said that wasn’t a little funny.”

“I got more,” she continued excitedly, “What do you call a guitar player without a girlfriend?”

“ya got me,” Sans chuckled once, his permagrin losing a bit of its forced tightness.

“Homeless!”

“pfft, that’s awful, kid.”

“Oh believe me, he deserved it,” she replied cryptically before clapping her hands together in front of her face, hazel eyes shining, “Ok, one more! What is Beethoven doing now?”

“de-composing,” Sans answered for her to steal her thunder, chuckling as she deflated into a pout, “come on kid, look who you’re talking to.”

She shrugged and rolled her eyes a little, “Good point, _Bone Daddy_.” Sans’s eyelights shrunk at the name but he let it slide. The way she’d said it made it sound like she was referencing something and he just hadn’t gotten it. And she didn’t appear to be the type to insult him to his face, at least not from what he’d seen so far. So it was probably just poorly chosen words. Right.

It definitely wasn’t anything more that that.

“Anyway,” she continued, eyes crackling with hinted mischief, “You seem to know why I’m here, so I’ll assume you’re the greeting party. Can’t just be you here, after all.”

Well she was certainly right about that, it wasn’t _just_ him here. Well… not exactly, anyway. Not that she’d be told the specifics of it all. Ever.

Sans had once tried to explain it to Herb when they were both too drunk to reap any consequences, mostly for his own amusement; Herb had a habit of blacking out—never remembered a single moment when he was too far gone. He hadn’t gotten it at all. Not that that surprised Sans.

Sometimes even he didn’t understand it.

And sometimes he wondered how in-the-dark Error was trying to keep the rest of them.

…But that was a worry for tonight when Sans sat up, awake in his room and uselessly trying to find some sleep. Right now, Taz was looking at him with a cute little smirk and that keen, knowing glint in her eyes.

“I’m ready to meet everyone if you’re ready to lead.”

“heh, sure thing, kid,” Sans said, shrugging as well, “had my doubts, but i think you’ll fit in just fine with a sense of humor like that.”


	2. Prologue: Ashes, Boo, and Bunny

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again! Thanks so much to everyone who checked out the first chapter on this story; I was super amazed at the number of hits it got for only being up a day!! That's the power of the reverse harem, I suppose lol. And thanks of course for the kudos and comments. They really make my day. <3
> 
> So each chapter in the prologue will be introducing the different skeles. This one is Underswap (which is an AU that's really grown on me through the community's depiction of it in fanfics). I hope you all enjoy! :)
> 
> I should also mention, I use slightly different nicknames for some of the boys. US!Paps is a good example, since most people call him Stretch; I prefer Rus, which some people use for Swapfell Paps. I hope it's not too confusing!
> 
> **Next update is on Monday cause I have a wedding tomorrow and Sunday is devoted to Fallout 76

**The Human Soul on Fire**

_Chapter 2- Ashes, Boo, and Bunny_

 

“A-flat major!”

Silence buzzed around the foyer of the lodge following Taz’s delivery of her most recent joke’s punchline. The setup had almost been identical to her mineshaft one from the parking lot—“What do you get when you drop a piano on an army base?”—and, while this one was as hilariously awful, her disappointment at Papyrus and Blue’s confusion was markedly more amusing.

Rus chuckled lowly beside Sans, who merely smiled at the repeat joke.

“Like—a _flat. major._ Like, army Major,” Taz prodded, not willing to admit defeat but killing the joke even worse from explaining it.

“OH! Y-YES, OF COURSE!” Papyrus replied indulgently, nodding his head as well. But Blue hadn’t caught on to the other’s politeness and still looked completely perplexed.

“I DON’T UNDERSTAND, THOUGH,” the latter pint-sized skeleton huffed, nearly sweating from the effort he was making to parse it out, “THE ARMY MEN MIGHT NOT ALWAYS BE NICE, BUT I STILL WOULDN’T ENJOY ONE OF THEM BEING FLATTENED!”

Taz, for her part, also looked confused, “It’s not like I’m advocating for murder here, kid. It’s just a joke.”

“I AM NOT A BABYBONES!” Blue cried indignantly while realization passed over Papyrus’s face.

“AH, SO YOU WERE ATTEMPTING TO AMUSE US! I UNDERSTAND NOW, HUMAN!” Then, a moment later: “WAIT, WAS THAT A PUN?”

“Yeah, I guess it counts as—”

Wrong answer. Well, right answer—but still wrong.

Papyrus’s eyes dilated in horrid vexation as Blue joined with a scream of disgust. Taz was nonplussed, however.

“Not music fans, huh?”

“THAT’S NOT IT AT ALL! IT’S YOUR REPUGNANT PUNNING, AND IN OUR VERY HOME NO LESS,” Papyrus wailed, Blue backing him up with a nod and wrists pinned sassily on his hips.

“heh,” Rus sniggered under his breath so his brother and Papyrus wouldn’t hear, “wouldn’t have guessed it, but she might just do ok here.”

“i’m sure you’re not surprised at me saying so, but i thought the same thing,” Sans responded, smile widening again as Taz launched into another joke with no less enthusiasm.

“What’s the difference between a guitarist and a Savings Bond? A Savings Bond will eventually mature and earn money!”

“HUMAN, WE DON’T KNOW WHAT A SAVINGS BOND IS, BUT WE KNOW YOU WERE MEANING TO INSULT THE GUITARIST,” Blue said matter-of-factly after confirming it with Papyrus.

Hmm. That wasn’t the first joke she’d told at the expense of a guitarist. Sans filed that away in his skull for later.

“she’s gonna like edge, i bet,” Rus quipped at a normal volume so the others could hear.

“Edge?”

“OH, EDGE ALSO LIVES HERE! HE PLAYS GUITAR,” Papyrus supplied, looking introspective, “HE WILL DEFINITELY TRY TO INFLICT PAIN ON YOU IF YOU REPEAT THAT JOKE TO HIM.”

“Oh?”

“EDGE CAN BE REALLY MEAN,” Blue agreed, then became a little shyer, “B-BUT DON’T WORRY! THE MAGNIFICENT SA— _BLUE_ WILL PROTECT YOU FROM HIS THORNY WRATH!”

“My hero!” Taz cooed, looking humored but not at all sarcastic.

“YOU WILL ALSO HAVE THE SUPPORT OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS!” the other skeleton exclaimed, not one to be outdone—not even by one such as Blue.

“Gosh, _two_ heroes to protect me? I’m not sure I’m worthy of such chivalry,” Taz giggled, causing them both to flush orange and baby blue respectively.

“well you’re not kicking us out, so i’d say that makes you pretty alright,” Rus said, rolling a sucker along his teeth. Looking over for the first time, Taz’s face lit up.

“Hey thanks… Stretch,” she replied cheekily, indicating the hoodie-clad skeleton’s impressive height with a pointed finger.

“it’s ‘rus,’ but you’re welcome, honey.”

“RUS IS MY YOUNGER BROTHER,” Blue added cheerfully. More confusion came over Taz—Sans was beginning to read the brief tell of her furrowed eyebrows—but it passed almost immediately. If Sans were to guess, she had most likely assumed Blue was younger.

Most did. Herb never did quite get it right.

“I see,” she replied, not even missing a beat, “So then you two…?”

“brothers,” Sans answered, “paps is rus’s age.”

“we’re all cousins here,” Rus added, saving her from needing to ask that as well.

The same look crossed her pale face, before being replaced by something much smugger, “Hmm. Well, I can definitely see that. The resemblance is _uncanny_.”

Maybe it wasn’t Rus and Blue’s ages that she’d seen through after all. But that was basically impossible. She could have no way of knowing that.

…Right?

Thankfully Papyrus saved Rus and Sans from any further needling inquiries, even if he did so unknowingly. “WE SHOULD ESCORT OUR NEW HUMAN LANDLADY WHILE MY BROTHER INTRODUCES HER TO THE OTHERS!”

“YEAH!” Blue agreed with stars in his eyes, “AFTER ALL, EDGE ISN’T THE ONLY MEAN ONE HERE.”

“I’d be happy for the extra bodyguards,” she said fondly, “And you can call me ‘Taz,’ guys.”

Papyrus and Blue both made a face.

“THERE IS ZERO CHANCE THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL ADDRESS HIS NEW FRIEND WITH SUCH AN UNFLATTERING NAME. PERHAPS WE COULD DEVISE A NICKNAME FOR YOU?”

“it’s not her real name, paps.”

“How did you know that?” Taz glared, unsettled that Sans was aware of it. He just winked nonchalantly, causing her to pout again.

“it’s anastasia.”

Rus chuckled, while Papyrus and Blue proclaimed their preference for this much more feminine name. But Taz was easily the loudest out of them all, throwing her head back and groaning dramatically into the vaulted ceiling.

“Please don’t call me that. If you really insist, just keep it to Ana.”

“ANA IT IS!” Papyrus acquiesced easily while Blue looked hurt.

“BUT ANASTASIA IS MY FAVORITE MOVIE PRINCESS!” he nearly sobbed, positively stricken at being denied so resolutely. Taz softened immediately, raging with herself internally only a moment before giving in to his puppy dog eyes.

“I mean…” she was relenting, but also looked incredibly regretful for it.

“I COULD CALL YOU ‘PRINCESS’ INSTEAD?” Blue offered, trying to be fair. That got Taz to agree much quicker.

“Definitely not. Anastasia it is,” she complied hurriedly, an uncomfortable blush spreading across her cheeks, “But _just you_.”

“EVEN BETTER!” Blue cheered. This time it was Papyrus looking crestfallen: upset he’d given in without argument and was getting less for it. Taz was fast to lift his spirits, however.

“Come on, Paps,” she said, adopting his brother’s nickname for him and joining arms with the significantly taller skeleton, “You can lead me through this place.”

“NYEH HEH! I’LL BE THE BEST NAVIGATOR SLASH PROTECTOR YOU COULD HOPE FOR!” Papyrus proclaimed, louder than usual to offset the blush dusting his cheekbones. Blue’s cheeks puffed in irritation.

“W-WELL I’D BE AN EVEN BETTER ONE IF ANASTASIA LET ME,” Blue countered, flexing his personal—read: _special_ —right to use her given name. Papyrus wasn’t bothered.

Rus and Sans trailed behind, skeletal hands in pockets.

“your bro seems pretty taken with her already,” said Sans.

“yours too,” said Rus.

Unfortunately they both knew without saying it that the others wouldn’t be so easily charmed.

After all, there was a good reason they had made sure the four of them were the first ones she met upon arrival.

This would be an eventful day, without a doubt.

Sans was already tired thinking of it. And Rus was considering that he might need a drink.

At least they were headed toward the bar.


	3. Prologue: Edgy and Fangs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!! Thanks again for reading/commenting/giving kudos! This story is giving me a lot of life rn; work is being... Well, I won't say the absolute worst, because that wouldn't be true. But it's certainly not being great. And I am drinking rn because of it. So there it is.
> 
> Anyway, rambling aside, I do hope you enjoy this chapter! Underfell is my most favorite AU and I have so much love for Red. And recently I've felt more of a connection to Edge too, so it's all around a good time with Fell.
> 
> **Next update is on Wednesday! AND GO VOTE TOMORROW IF YOU'RE IN THE US LIKE ME.

**The Human Soul on Fire**

_Chapter 3- Edgy and Fangs_

 

Red and Edge weren’t Sans’s first pick for who to introduce next, but matters had more or less been taken out of his hands as they’d tried to pass by the wide double doors to the hotel’s classy bar and raised voices had apparently piqued Taz’s interest.

“Sounds like a hell of a time in there,” she’d quipped with a conspiratorial little smirk before popping her head into the grandiose lounge, “Uncle Tarragon never let me in here as a kid. Couldn’t trust me not to drink anything handed to me.”

The odd distinction of her uncle being more concerned with her finding trouble than other adults who knew better tempting a then-underage girl didn’t escape Sans. Just another thing to log away and probe about later.

“WHO IS TARRAGON?” Blue queried, diverting Taz’s eyes from glancing gleefully around the lounge, “I THOUGHT HERB WAS YOUR UNCLE?”

“No, that’s who I meant,” she said vaguely, smile threatening to break across her face—if the subtle twitch at the corner of her lips meant anything.

“BUT I DON’T—”

“tarragon’s an herb, bro,” Rus said helpfully.

“AH, I SEE!” Blue declared proudly. His pose crumbled only moments later, however.

“ANOTHER PUN!” he and Papyrus shrieked, causing Taz to devolve into hysterical giggles that wracked her entire frame.

“IF YOU TWO WOULDN’T MIND, WE ARE TRYING TO HOLD A CONVERSATION IN HERE!” a voice that could only be described as “jagged” carried to the assembled group from the bar, followed by an apparent aside but still no lower in volume than the previous snark: “THE _NERVE_ OF SOME PEOPLE.”

Sans waved everyone to enter—might as well get these two out of the way while they were here. If Red was _still_ lurking in the bar, there was a chance he’d react a bit more amicably to meeting Taz. And—if they were _really_ lucky—Edge would be so frustrated with his brother that he wouldn’t have enough ire for the rest of them.

That said, Sans rarely counted himself as lucky.

“thought i’d heard a cute li’l girly giggle,” Red somehow managed to slur out despite being completely slumped over the polished bar top, “also thought i might be dreamin’. glad to be wrong on that one.”

Taz’s eyes gleamed slyly, looking ready to say something in response, but was readily cut off by Edge.

“NOBODY CARES TO HEAR YOUR SALACIOUS DRUNKEN UTTERANCES, BROTHER,” he said: the auditory equivalent of a withering glare.

“I don’t know, I’ve been charmed by less,” Taz rebutted with an innocent shrug of her shoulders. Red’s grin turned positively dopey as Edge instead rounded on her, finally noticing the elephant in the room.

Or, in this case, the human.

Edge, true to form, recovered quickly from his shock. “UGH, ANOTHER HUMAN. OF COURSE. WHY AM I EVEN SURPRISED THEIR GOVERNMENT SENT ANOTHER VILE LACKEY HERE TO MIND US?”

“she’s not from the government and you knew she was coming, edge,” Sans reminded him as Rus held Blue back by his bandana to keep him from rushing to Taz’s defense against the imposing, surly skeleton.

Edge’s glare faltered only a moment before he straightened his back to stand even taller, his sharp, battle-worn armor catching the low light in the lounge and glinting severely.

“PERHAPS,” Edge relented, not expecting Sans to check him, “…BUT THIS HUMAN APPEARS TO BE EVEN MORE PATHETIC THAN THE LAST.”

“My uncle was the most timid person on this planet, so that would be quite the feat,” Taz huffed, something sparkling in her eyes, “ _Maybe_ I’m just playing up the defenseless young girl act to throw off the spooky monsters.”

Her body language changed completely: morphing from a proud, wide stance to become hunched, meek, and vulnerable. What’s more, the very air around her seemed to shutter and shift—like it was electrified, but only just so. Just barely noticeable, but there.

Despite the mischief never leaving her eyes, letting him know it was just another joke, Sans felt something in him wanting to stand between Taz and Edge. And he apparently wasn’t the only one—Rus was now holding back both Blue and Papyrus, but looking concerned and ready to step up himself. Even Red was pushing his head up despite nearly being ready to pass out under the weight of his drunkenness, casting back his fur-lined hood from his skull so it no longer obscured his vision.

But most interestingly, Edge himself, usually so exacting and composed in his acerbity, actually stuttered. His rigid, cruel countenance started to soften—he may have even looked a little uncomfortable, or ashamed.

And then the feeling was gone with resounding force. It felt like a rubber band snapping against the side of Sans’s skull. Like a stone striking a mirror to crack it like a spiderweb. Or the blink of Herb’s old CRT tv when he shut it down after a long night of watching his home videos.

“I’m kidding,” Taz said into the confused silence, arms folded across her chest and smirk extremely smug. But also a little dangerous.

Edge’s face remained curious despite his biting tone, “OBVIOUSLY. THE TERRIBLE EDGE IS NOT SO EASILY TRICKED.”

Something about Taz’s face said she was only just barely holding back from saying “could’ve fooled me.” Rather, she swiftly changed courses once more and looked more serious than Sans had yet seen her.

“I just wanted to say: I know a lot about you. About what you were doing here; how you were treating my uncle,” her voice was soft but had the tang of steeliness to it still. Edge shifted imperceptibly, his gaze locked on her as the air once again prickled around them. “And I want you to know that I’m not him. I’m not some dog you can kick around and expect to remain loyal and simpering.”

That much was obvious. And her intention was clear: Taz has teeth.

“But I do hope we’ll all have fun together! Getting along is certainly a much better time than whatever’s been going on here for the past five years.” And again the atmosphere relaxed around her.

Rather than accept defeat and admit he too, however secretly, would rather enjoy his internment in this world than fight with the entire hotel, Edge cast his nonexistent nose toward the ceiling and stalked off to poise himself haughtily on an overly-cushioned sofa, legs and arms crossed in indignation.

Taz watched him the whole time, a tiny little smirk of baffling confidence on her lips. Sans had never seen anyone shut Edge down so handedly—no human, anyway. Whether she was just cocky or actually a skilled diplomat remained to be seen, but at least it didn’t seem like he’d need to worry about her.

…Or her blood pressure.

Hmm.

As Sans watched her roll her eyes to the sky and shake her head at the others good-naturedly, he wondered just how much Taz actually knew. Because, whatever the actual amount, it was still more than she _should_ know. Herb had sworn secrecy to the government—or at least he was supposed to, but he seemed unlikely to go against the military keeping the entire lodge radio-silent. So how would Taz know about Edge’s mean streak? And she seemed to imply knowing that his actions had had an effect on her uncle.

Better to discuss that later.

For now, he and the others followed her over to the bar; the four of them each took a seat—Blue having to haul himself up onto the tall barstool with considerable effort—while Taz floated around the backbar and admired the stock. She seemed particularly enamored by the swirling decanters of monster liquor.

Girl had good tastes.

And that hadn’t gone unnoticed by the nearly comatose Red either.

“hey barkeep,” he slurred dreamily, grin still in place despite her teasing of his brother, “I’ll take sumthin’ sweet, with a side order a’ your number.”

Rus chuckled, more than happy to watch Red embarrass himself. Blue wasn’t nearly as pleased however, and appeared as though he was gearing up to defend his new friend’s honor again.

“Seems unnecessary when we’re living in the same place,” she deflected coolly before anyone could intervene, “The sweet part I can provide, though.”

“i betcha can, sweetness.”

Taz ignored him and turned her eyes their way, “You four want something too?” She was fitting Sans and Rus both with a penetrating look, to seek permission to stay for a little while and, also, to serve their more innocent brothers. She was surreptitiously mixing Red something nonalcoholic, so she wasn’t completely irresponsible. Or untrustworthy.

Yeah, a drink actually sounded pretty nice.

Also a little needed.

“sure, sounds good. surprise us,” Rus answered, his sucker now reduced to just the paper stick and no longer clacking against his molars. Taz didn’t say it aloud, but she was missing that sound a bit.

She nodded, a determined look crossing her face as she set about pulling what must have been half the liquors down from the shelves. She worked happily behind the bar, humming some tuneless thing under her breath. Shaking and stirring and mixing and pouring, all with that laser-focus. Eventually she measured out seven different cocktails, looking rather pleased with her efforts but saying nothing more than the occasional off-handed reply to Red’s continued pursuit of her phone number.

She did appear to pocket a napkin he’d scribbled his own down on for her, though.

“Drink here for you if you want it, grouchy!” she called to Edge while passing out glasses to everyone. Sans heard him harrumph loudly but refuse to move.

He examined the drink before him: it smelled extremely strong but was really pleasing to look at. Glancing over at Papyrus, he noticed his brother also sniffing the drink offered to him and worried a little.

“MY, WHAT A WONDERFUL AROMA! I’VE NEVER HAD MONSTER ALCOHOL THAT SMELLS LIKE ORANGES,” Papyrus complimented her and she beamed.

“It’s called a Bamboo cocktail. Lots of flavor,” and low alcohol content, Taz seemed to imply. Blue had something similar, just made—appropriately—with blueberries.

Meanwhile, Red was carrying on flirtatiously how his drink would give him a cavity if Taz herself didn’t first. Sans rolled his eyelights and swirled his drink to distract himself; it was made entirely of monster alcohol and glowed navy when he took an experimental sip. It was pretty good!

Rus’s was the top-shelf human scotch that tasted like you’d inhaled an entire campfire, neat. He was taking his drink extremely slowly, which looked like the way to do it.

“gotta say, honey—this stuff is a little rich for me. i’m _barley_ qualified to drink this kinda stuff,” Rus commented with a slow wink, but proceeded to down the remainder of the shot.

“Scotch is made from grain,” Taz had just enough time to laugh and swat at him for drinking it too quickly before Red was blundering his way back into her attention.

“if alcohol puns get ya _rye-led_ up, darlin’, you _oat_ to come sit next to me,” he said, chin propped on his hand and smile proving how proud he was of that one.

“You’ve been flirting with me the whole time I’ve been here,” Taz remarked, but surprising everyone by setting her elbows on the bar top and leaning in toward a suddenly sweating Red, “But I wonder if you’re all bark and no _bite_ —” she pointed a flippant finger at his single gold tooth, “— _Fangs_.”

Red lasted a whole second and a half under her half-lidded gaze before blipping away so quickly his barstool fell backwards and clacked hollowly against the stone floor. Taz cackled amusedly to herself while Edge, noticing his brother’s sudden departure, grumbled under his breath. He stopped on his way out of the bar only to grab the dark purple cocktail Taz had made for him.

“Well, guess I got my answer,” Taz said to herself with one final giggle while righting Red’s stool. “Anyway!” she continued, popping up with fists propped jauntily on her hips, “Who’s next, then?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH!! Quick poll while I'm thinking about it: When the POV changes after chapter 10, which would you all prefer? I know 2nd POV is the default and I'm cool with that, but if you guys would like either 1st person or a more Taz-focused 3rd person I can do that too.
> 
> Lemme know your thoughts, and thank you for your input! <3


	4. Prologue: Highness and Puppy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Thanks as always for reading/commenting/giving kudos!! This story is consuming my life right now, but, like, in a really good way. It's giving me a lot of focus.
> 
> This chapter is the longest so far, and I had suuuch a good time writing it. Swapfell is an AU that I feel doesn't get enough love; Mutt is just... well, he's real nice. I like him. And Black is like a bratty Blue, which is also just an absolute joy for me to write.
> 
> I really hope you enjoy this chapter! <3
> 
> **Next update on Friday!

**The Human Soul on Fire**

_Chapter 4- Highness and Puppy_

 

After that interaction, Sans figured the new landlady could handle anyone. So, he might as well get a few more of the rough ones taken care of. He was pretty sure the others had been spending their time on the playground recently, so their group was now passing through the bar’s outdoor patio and tromping across the overly-long grass.

“So did he actually _teleport_?” Taz asked Sans, slowing her pace to walk alongside him.

“yeah, you seemed to scare him off real good,” Sans replied, his smile widening a little in response to the look of pride on her face, “despite how he looks, red can be a bit…skittish.”

That was a very nice way of saying “cowardly.” Sans congratulated himself on his restraint.

“So that was magic, right? _Real_ magic??” she pressed excitedly, looking not unlike Blue when he was talking about traps or tacos.

“yeah, the _magic_ magic kind,” Sans chuckled, but his grin slipped slightly when her eyes drifted away and a dreamy little smile came over her, “what’s up, kid?”

“Hmm? Oh, you just made me think of a song.”

And then she was catching up with Blue and Papyrus, her step a little bouncier as she hummed a tune Sans almost felt like he recognized but couldn’t quite place.

Eventually their group found its way to the resort’s once impressive playground: now rusted and creaky in a way that poetically reflected the nonstop march of time and loss of innocence hanging over the lodge like a fog. At least that’s how Taz saw it. The monsters lacked that perspective, apparently, since there appeared to be two skeletons content to loiter about the wooden jungle gym as if it weren’t about to come down around them.

Sans and Rus watched Taz’s hands, fisted in excitement, quiver ever so slightly—she was most likely preparing to scale the miniature rock wall. The latter gripped her shoulder to keep her stationary, and she had just enough time to glance at him in puzzlement before a sharp voice dripping with ego demanded her attention.

“HALT! WHO DARES TO TRY AND PASS THROUGH THE REALMS OF THE MALEVOLENT BLACK?” a voice not unlike Edge’s but much more shrill rent the dewy stillness of the early evening in two.

Above them, six feet from the ground, a smallish skeleton in fashionably tattered garb an angsty teenager would covet glared at them over the railing of the jungle gym’s rope and plank bridge. Rus gave Taz’s shoulder another squeeze of warning before slipping his hand back into the pocket of his orange pullover. The atmosphere here and the appearance of this “Black” did the skeleton no favors if he truly meant to appear “malevolent,” but she at least understood the implication to take him, and perhaps the other lanky skeleton leaning against the rotten wooden posts before them, seriously.

The other one had an equally unkempt aura surrounding him, but on him it looked… well it looked good.

“WE’RE SHOWING OUR NEW LANDLADY ANA AROUND! COME DOWN AND SAY HELLO, BLACK,” Papyrus replied, cupping his gloved hands around his mouth to project the sound, which was unnecessary but fittingly dramatic.

“WHAT, THE HUMAN? SHE’S HERE ALREADY?” he seemed to flounder slightly before propping himself up higher on the rails of the bridge to appear taller.

“Everybody seems surprised by that, but yes,” Taz said with a sardonic smile and a wave. She decided not to question him not even noticing her until now; maybe he couldn’t actually see over the rails.

For all his bluster, he wasn’t much taller than Blue.

“AH, PERFECT! YOUR ARRIVAL IS GOING EXACTLY ACCORDING TO MY PLAN,” Black declared, his sharp, toothy smile twisting. The tiniest of snorts came out of Taz before she returned the little overlord’s smile.

“I didn’t even realize. You must be a master tactician,” she indulged, only giving away a bit of her implied sarcasm by shrugging. That said, Black had never been one for subtlety and took her at her word; those words being so complimentary surely not having anything to do with it.

“OF COURSE! ONE NEEDS ONLY OBSERVE MY IMPRESSIVE WIT FOR A MOMENT TO COMPREHEND ITS DEPTHS,” Black continued to dote on himself while Taz distractedly rearranged his words into an insult in her head. It wasn’t terribly difficult.

Sensing tensions deflating somewhat, Papyrus and Blue went to take turns pushing each other on the swings and Rus shuffled over to the silent skeleton below the bridge to wave his hand in a “gimme” motion. The other soundlessly tossed him a cigarette.

Sans watched Taz’s eyes shift in interest toward the smokers, then over to the swing set. She appeared to change her mind about something and remained still.

“NOW THEN, HUMAN!” Black interrupted his own stream of egoism and pointed a finger down at Taz, who amused herself by glancing around the playground in confusion, as though another human might pop into existence in that moment, “YES YOU! YOU’VE WANDERED RIGHT INTO MY CLEVER TRAP, SO NOW I CHALLENGE YOU TO PASS THROUGH THIS BRIDGE UNSCATHED.”

Taz’s eyes lowered to the space below the bridge, which seemed neither clever nor challenging. The worst harm that could possibly come to her was a spider dropping from the planks into her hair. She eyed the challenge-giver, face blank.

“You mean this?”

“WELL IF YOU’RE SO CONFIDENT, STEP FORWARD,” he retorted, crossing his arms across his small chest and looking a little huffier. With another shrug, Taz approached the area under the bridge and, no sooner than her lowering her foot, a cage of glowing bones was growing from the ground around her. There were several cries of anger as Taz’s breath caught in her throat.

“hey black, lay off the threats,” she heard Sans say, followed by a clattering that was surely Papyrus nodding his skull furiously in agreement.

“YES! MAGIC ISN’T A VERY SPORTING PUZZLE; HOW WOULD ANA EVEN KNOW TO COUNTER IT?” Papyrus added while Taz shifted her feet and noticed an incredibly small pressure plate hidden in the playground’s ancient wood chips.

“It’s ok, guys,” she called, keeping her voice level despite the magic surrounding her sending a thrill through her body, “There’s a trigger here that my dumb human foot set off. Totally fair.”

Black looked smug at both her self-deprecating comment and her defense of his methods; he sneered triumphantly down at the others.

“FINALLY SOMEONE APPRECIATES MY GENIUS WITH TRAPS,” he gloated. Taz thought better of refuting his twisting of her words and simply waited for him to continue, which didn’t take long, “NOW FOR YOUR PUNISHMENT FOR FAILING, HUMAN! YOU HAVE TO ANSWER MY THREE QUESTIONS TO PASS THROUGH SAFELY; IF YOU FAIL YOU’LL HAVE… TO DO SOMETHING FOR ME—TO… ASSUAGE MY WRATH!”

No one was convinced by his assertions, but no one stepped forward to question him either: Taz least of all, who seemed to be deeply amused by the entire situation despite being surrounded by magical projectiles.

“Hey, bring it on,” Taz said, pausing to shake an odd blurriness out of her eyes before continuing, “I probably shouldn’t be so confident considering I walked right into your trap, but I’ve always been the gambling sort. And I’m sure you wouldn’t ask anything too terrible of me if I’m wrong, right Black?”

And there was that tingle in the air again—but instead of bowing like Edge, Black may actually be blushing. The silent skeleton beside Rus cleared his throat and Black seemed to reel himself back in.

“IF I DON’T LIKE YOUR ANSWERS, YOU’LL DO AS I WISH!” he replied, tone annoyed but cheeks still noticeably baby blue, “NOW ON TO THE TRIAL.”

“On the edge of my seat here.”

“ _FIRST_ QUESTION,” he prefaced with a pointed glare in response to her quip, “WHAT DO YOU THINK OF MY INCREDIBLE MALEVOLENCE?”

There was a tick of unimpressed incredulity across the playground before the unnamed skeleton spoke up. “black, are you sure you will remain an impartial judge? perhaps you could give the human a riddle?”’

“SILENCE, MUTT!” Black said, nearly frothing at the mouth, “YOU WOULD DO WELL TO REMEMBER TO WHOM YOU ARE SPEAKING.”

The way Black had spat the word “mutt” out made it sound like an insult, but Taz couldn’t be sure given the fairly odd names she’d already encountered. Still, she hoped it wasn’t actually his name, otherwise she might have to pick another for him.

“I’d have to say that your malevolence is so incredible that it need not even be said, Black,” Taz answered the question while Rus and the aforementioned “Mutt” returned to their chain smoking. She smiled serenely as Black thought over her answer.

On the one hand, he agreed. Immensely. But on the other hand, he very much liked the way she praised him and wanted more of that.

The deciding factor was him determining that rejecting her answer would make it appear as though he disagreed with her assertions and he didn’t want the others sensing weakness.

And also… there was something about the way the human was looking at him that made him want to— _keep_ her.

“THAT WILL DO. NEXT QUESTION,” he continued, “DO YOU HAVE… _EXPERIENCE_ WITH MONSTERS?”

Goodness that was a loaded question—and even more loaded than Black could have known. He’d have to elaborate, so Taz asked him to clarify.

“I WILL NOT!” Black balked, as if she’d back-talked him, “YOU’LL JUST HAVE TO REVEAL EVERYTHING RELEVANT TO KNOW MY QUERY HAS BEEN ADEQUATELY ANSWERED!”

Nice alliteration.

Sans watched Taz shift her weight, figuring she was settling in for a lengthy answer. And—he couldn’t deny—he was curious about this too, so he wandered near Mutt and Rus, leaning against the jungle gym comfortably and ignoring the poisonous look the little prince threw his way.

“ _Well_ ,” Taz sighed but still mostly sounding as though she found the whole thing very funny, “Monsters surfaced not long after I was born. My best friend in kindergarten was a mouse monster and he was the only person who could stand me until he moved away in fifth grade and I had to make new friends.

Started a petition in high school to allow monsters to compete against humans in our school sports, because they were still segregated like the fucking 50s or something—won that, by the way, and ate crow when I got beaten out of the boxing team by my petition’s coauthor. Worth it, though.

 _Aaaand_ most recently I’ve been working with several monsters on a collaborative music project featuring their soul songs.”

Taz was ticking each point off on her fingers, but then her grin turned wicked as she came to her thumb, “And I’ve also had plenty of monsters partners, which is probably what you were actually asking about.”

The look on Black’s face did little to disprove her assumption. However, due to Taz’s answer having drawn every set of eyelights on the playground, he was spared from any humiliation at the hands of his lodgemates.

“bit of an open book, huh honey?” Rus asked, doing a good job of maintaining his nonchalance despite his intrigue. She nodded, smile cat-like as she enjoyed the stir she’d caused.

“No secrets between friends.”

“THAT ATTITUDE MAKES YOU WEAK,” Black tsked to regain her attention, face still a little less than composed but also twisted in disgust at Rus’s nickname for her. Taz just shrugged, prompting him for another question.

It was the final one, so she was waiting for something really good.

Kinda hard to top her last response, however, Sans thought.

Black glanced around the assembled mass of skeletons, many of whom he didn’t care for. And, even worse, he was now eyeing them up as competition. Thinking better of himself, Black motioned for Mutt to join him on the bridge so he could mutter instructions.

Taz watched as Mutt once again descended the jungle gym, a chain swaying intriguingly from his dark wash jeans and untied Doc Martens scuffing against the wood chips as he approached the magical cage of bones encircling her. Black’s boots tapped against the rail of the bridge in an erratic cadence as he impatiently waited for his lethargic brother to deliver his message.

Taz leaned forward, the surge of magic from the bone cage sparking like static against her arms and making her hairs stand on end when she got too close; thankfully Mutt was tall enough to whisper into her ear with ease—his breath humid and distinctly smoky against her chilled cheek.

“he wants to know if you have a boyfriend.”

“That’s all?” Taz whispered back, intentionally turning her face to invade Mutt’s personal space. But he didn’t move. Didn’t so much as blink.

“that all.”

Maybe Mutt was expecting Taz to give him her reply back, because he remained hovering around the circle of bones. But, as willing as she was to allow him in that close again, she was also enjoying annoying Black.

“He asked if I have a boyfriend,” she announced to everyone gathered, eliciting a few chuckles, a couple gasps of shock, a sigh of indignation from Sans, and a tirade of embarrassed half-sentences of rage from Black, “The answer is no, by the way. Dumped him about a week ago.”

Sans saw a flicker of anger pass under her mask of casualness at the statement. That was a familiar look.

But it sounded like it had happened right around her uncle’s death. Must have been an awful week.

“she’s answered your three questions, m’lord,” Mutt came to Black’s aid, as per usual. The latter regained his cool and sat Taz with a loathsome look for her lack of discretion, failing to notice her obvious giggling at his brother’s use of title for him.

“I apologize for speaking out of turn,” she responded to his cold eyes, doing a mock curtsy, “I hope my answers pleased his Highness.”

Sans clacked a hand against his face. Black would surely love the nickname, but that was not a good thing. Oh no. In fact, he might end up liking it so much that he’d want the others to start using it too.

“YOU ARE FORGIVEN, HUMAN,” Black crowed several decibels louder than usual, confirming Sans’s fears, “BUT DO NOT TEST ME AGAIN! MUTT, SHOW MY NEW PET HOW TO ASCEND THE STRUCTURE.”

Taz didn’t quite like being sat with that term—at least not if she hadn’t agreed to it—but she tried to keep her face unbothered as the bones around her dissolved and Mutt nodded at her to follow him. Joining Black on the plank bridge, her suspicions on his height were confirmed: He was barely five feet.

His attitude made up for it, though.

Something something Napoleon complex.

“FOR PASSING MY TRIAL, YOU MAY WATCH THESE OTHER TRESPASSERS FAIL MY CHALLENGE AS WELL,” Black informed her, apparently thinking it quite the prize.

And, upon looking around for Mutt, Taz realized it must be as she was the only one allowed up beside the “lord.”

“we got places to be, black,” Sans warned, voice growing weary.

“Lots of people to meet,” Taz verified, “But maybe we can watch one more go?” This was said to appease Black, who seemed to find this acceptable enough and merely rolled his eyelights before crossing his arms.

“FINE, YOU THEN!” he barked at Blue, who looked more than up to the challenge. Rus gave his brother a thumbs-up, crushing the stub of his second cigarette under the sole of his converse so he could watch.

Taz plopped down on the plank bridge, making the entire thing ripple and launching a huffy Black several inches in the air. Unperturbed by his icy, muttered curses, Taz stuck her legs through the gaps in the bridge’s rails. She swung her boots briefly in the air before nudging Sans’s shoulder; he let go of some of the tension he was holding and chuckled at her before undoing her shoelaces.

She stuck her tongue out at the laughing skeleton before focusing on Blue, who was surveying the area around the under-bridge before moving forward.

“Hey Blue,” Taz called, “Ask Black for a Traveler’s Pass.”

Blue looked adorably confused but apparently trusted Taz enough to do as she suggested, “OK, SURE. BLACK, I WANT A TRAVELER’S PASS. WHATEVER THAT IS.”

Apparently Taz and Black were the only ones who knew what the hell was going on, because the look he gave her was truly venomous.

“HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT?”

“Are you kidding? Short of you just saying ‘answer me these questions three’ you’re the picture of a classic bridge troll,” she answered, wearing that same knowing smile, “Although they usually hide _under_ the bridge. Not on top.”

Ah, so Black had been researching human myths on monsters. Sans wondered why he’d been so engrossed in reading since Herb’s passing—he must have been preparing for whatever prejudices or preconceived notions the new landlord would bring with them. Probably to exploit those fears.

This must be one of the stories he’d picked up on.

“AS IF A MONSTER SUCH AS MYSELF WOULD DEIGN TO WALLOW IN FILTH,” Black countered, nose in the air, “BETTER TO KEEP THE HUMANS IN THEIR PROPER PLACE.”

“I’M NOT A HUMAN,” Blue said, stomping his foot. He was largely ignored.

“IF YOU HELP HIM ANY MORE, PET, YOU’LL EARN YOURSELF A PUNISHMENT,” Black added to Taz, who held up her hands in surrender but continued to lightly kick at Sans’s back as she quickly began to lose interest in keeping up the game.

Sans might have heard her mutter something under her breath about not to tempt her with a good time.

…Maybe he’d heard wrong.

“Should I explain what a Traveler’s Pass is Highness?” she used the nickname again to pacify him, which worked. He nodded for her to continue, “So Blue, a Traveler’s Pass basically means from now on you can pass through any bridge without needing to attempt the trial. Black’s going to give you five riddles and you need to answer them all to win.”

“AND IF YOU LOSE,” Black interrupted, apparently hit with devious inspiration, “SHE’LL BE THE ONE PUNISHED.”

“THAT DOESN’T SEEM FAIR!” Papyrus cried, once again the most moral compass from the assembled group.

“IT’S PERFECTLY FAIR! BLUE WOULDN’T EVEN KNOW ABOUT IT WITHOUT HER INTERFERENCE,” Black said. Well that was kind of true.

“DON’T WORRY, ANASTASIA. I WON’T LOSE!” Blue said, sounding—and looking—confident. Taz wasn’t worried.

“I believe in you, Boo. Couldn’t ask for a better bodyguard,” Taz’s use of a fittingly cute nickname emboldened Blue even further, to the point that he was practically vibrating in anticipation for Black’s riddles.

Frustrated with the lack of fear his addendum had caused, Black delivered the first riddle with gnashing teeth, “I CAN’T BE SEEN, FOUND, HEARD, OR SMELLED. I LIE BEHIND STARS AND UNDER HILLS AND FILL HOLES. WHAT AM I?”

“You inflated sense of ego,” Taz muttered under her breath, but she made it sound cute and like less of a character flaw that it probably was.

Meanwhile.

“THE DARK!” Blue answered immediately, then puffed out his chest and said, perhaps less subtlety than he meant to, “THAT WAS AN EASY ONE.”

Black didn’t like that at all, and his grip on the rail became vicelike, “THIS OLD ONE RUNS FOREVER BUT NEVER MOVES. HE HAS NO LUNGS NOR THROAT, BUT BOASTS A MIGHTY ROAR. WHAT IS HE?”

“A WATERFALL!”

Black cursed colorfully, then: “WHAT COMES ONE TIME IN TODAY, THREE TIMES IN TOMORROW, AND NEVER IN THE FUTURE?”

“THE LETTER ‘O,’” Blue answered after a moment’s thought and Black’s face visibly darkened. More than half way there.

“WHAT IS SOMETHING THAT YOU ALWAYS HAVE BUT ALWAYS LEAVE BEHIND?”

Blue actually looked a little stumped on this one, and—given his anatomy—Taz could understand why. She tried to get his attention and wiggle her fingers as surreptitiously as she could.

“OH! FINGERTIPS!” Blue cheered, giggling at the noise of anger escaping Black’s throat. He definitely thought he’d had his cousin fooled with that one.

It was the final riddle now and Black was doing a good job of looking foreboding. His voice was now surprisingly velvety, and _leagues_ more dangerous than any moment previously.

“WHAT, WHEN READ FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, IS A SERVANT, BUT, FROM RIGHT TO LEFT, IS A RULER?”

“Wow,” Taz couldn’t help but utter—that was a good one. And what’s worse, she was thoroughly stumped. Black was beyond caring for her reaction, despite her awe being genuine for the first time so far, and was instead grinning cruelly at Blue.

Uh oh, Blue also looked confused.

Taz might be regretting her flippant nature at Black’s threat of punishment now.

“THAT’S A GOOD ONE,” Blue confessed, obviously stalling for time. But Black wasn’t having it and started counting down from ten.

Then Blue’s eyes lit up as he glanced to his brother, who, it seemed, was humming lowly. Taz had to strain to hear, but she was glad to notice. Rus had a surprisingly good grasp of tone. She’d bet he had a pretty decent singing voice.

The tune was slow and melancholic, but it seemed to stir something in Blue’s memory.

“OH, I GOT IT!” Blue cried, stars appearing in his eyes, “THE ANSWER IS ‘DOG!’”

That’s when it came together in Taz’s mind and she realized where she’d heard the song before. Clever clue, Rus. Color her impressed.

Apparently Mutt wasn’t a gamer, since he’d also noticed the subterfuge but didn’t rat the other skeleton out.

Or he just didn’t care.

Black was seething but obviously didn’t dare denying Blue’s right to the win when out-numbered. Instead he rounded on Mutt, “PAPY, WE’RE LEAVING.”

“sure thing, m’lord.”

“Ooh, ‘Papy,’ huh?” Taz queried, noticing the change in name, “So your name’s not Mutt?”

“nah, it is,” Mutt said, causing Taz to scowl, “my bro just calls me that nickname sometimes.”

“Nickname? Well maybe I’ll call you by one too, then,” Taz rebounded, smile coy once more, “How about ‘Puppy?’”

That got Mutt to twitch a little. But the way he scratched at the back of his skull and lit up what looked like a dog treat meant to mimic a cigarette made it appear that he didn’t mind in a _bad_ way.

“heh, do what ya like,” Mutt said, following in the warpath his brother was burning back to the hotel. He stopped to blow a stream of purplish smoke that smelled like sweetness and cinnamon into her face, “see ya later, kitten.”

And then he too, like Red, teleported away to Black’s side as they reentered the huge building. Sans saw Taz fanning at her face, as though she were wafting away the scent of Mutt’s smoke; but only he was close enough to see the blush across her cheekbones.

Sans… didn’t know that he liked that much.

“Hey Blue, got another riddle for you,” Taz said, standing and pulling herself up atop the bridge rail. Then in a booming voice meant to mock the playground’s tiny tyrant: “ _Why can’t you trust the law of gravity_?”

She didn’t even wait for him to answer before jumping from the jungle gym and landing with enough force to send wood chips scattering to the wind.

“Because it’ll always let you down!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've uploaded some concept images for Taz on my tumblr, if you wanna check that out: https://alien-ariel7.tumblr.com/tagged/The-Human-Soul-on-Fire
> 
> Also, we're leaning toward a Taz-focused 3rd person for POV, with potential occasional changes to the boys' POV. If you still want to vote, lemme know! :)


	5. Prologue: Killer and Nibbles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey again, everyone! Thanks as always for the lovely comments/kudos/views!! It keeps me motivated while planning this story.
> 
> This chapter is Horrortale: a personal favorite. Jaws is a good baby boy and Axe is one of the best AU Sanses, as far as I'm concerned. I didn't use to think I'd like Horrortale much, but it's suuuuper grown on me through fanfiction and art. I hope I do Axe justice, because he's a bit difficult at times.
> 
> Additional note: the island I mentioned is made up for the purposes of this story. Minor point, but I thought I'd mention it.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
> 
> **Next post is on Monday <3

**The Human Soul on Fire**

_Chapter 5- Killer and Nibbles_

“ANA, THAT WAS MORE LIKE ANOTHER BAD JOKE THAN IT WAS A RIDDLE,” Papyrus chastised the landlady as the group of skeletons led her back toward the lodge. She didn’t really appear to be listening completely, however—once more having that pleasant far away look on her face.

“So can you _all_ teleport?” she asked, causing Papyrus and Blue to shake their heads perhaps a little dejectedly.

“OUR BROTHERS CAN. OUR MAGIC IS A LITTLE DIFFERENT,” Blue explained shyly. Taz looked excited.

“More _magic_ magic?”

They didn’t really understand what she meant, but Papyrus nodded, “YES, OUR TYPE OF MAGIC IS STILL VERY MAGICAL.”

They watched as her gait once again morphed into more of a dance as she hummed something under her breath. Blue listened intently.

“WHAT ARE YOU HUMMING? I THINK YOU WERE DOING IT EARLIER TOO.”

“Hmm? Oh, it’s a song Sans made me think of. You guys keep reminding me of it,” Taz explained, then began to sing cheerfully, “ _Magic_ magic—ooh ooh— _magic_ magic—ooh ooh! Magic _magic_ ma-gic _MA_ -gic.”

Without meaning to, Papyrus and Blue were suddenly matching her rhythm and walking in time. The air tingled a little: the sensation growing with Taz’s smile.

“nice song, honey,” Rus commented as they turned down the long hallway to the kitchens. She spun, walking backwards so she could beam at him.

“There’s a joke to be made there about a skeleton monster liking Mystery Skulls,” she laughed while Blue glanced back at his brother, looking a little put out Rus knew something about her that he didn’t. Or at least shared an interest he couldn’t relate to.

“CAN YOU SING THE REST, ANASTASIA?” he asked, fiddling with the hem on his gloves, “I’D LIKE TO HEAR IT.”

“I can do you one better,” she smiled widely, pulling her cell phone out from her bag and punching in a few buttons. [A funky electronic beat](https://youtu.be/q8l9uUC1mKo) started to play and the three leading the way once more fell into step.

It was now that Sans realized why he’d recognized Taz’s humming. He’d recently heard the song, played twice in a row, through the rolled-up windows of her car. So at least he could quiet that particular nag in the back of his skull; it was nice to find an answer to a mystery that had been bothering him.

By the second time the chorus came around, Papyrus and Blue were joining Taz in both singing and dancing their way down the hall.

Sans and Rus showed no signs of doing any more than ambling along behind, but they too felt a pull at their casual countenances: something endearing and lighthearted, which made their permanent grins several margins more genuine.

It was pleasant. And certainly a welcome reversal of how Sans was dreading the change in landlord to go.

But still…

The way Taz so seamlessly worked her way in with every single one of them so far was… odd. Sans was loathe to look a gift horse in the mouth by feeling paranoid; but, that said, she was almost _too_ perfect. _Too_ easygoing. _Too_ level-headed. _Too_ cheerful. It was a rather impossible person who could get along with both Black and Blue. And while Herb had never really run afoul of Rus or Sans himself, he _never_ got on with Edge. Which was not to say that he seemed to be at all inclined toward any kind of positive feelings toward the new landlady either, but it still remained that it shouldn’t be possible to do what Taz was doing.

And yet here she was: charming the entire lodge.

“something’s off,” Sans muttered to Rus, knowing he could trust him to have picked up on it as well.

“eh, i’d say her singing’s fairly in-key,” Rus replied slowly, but smirking slightly, “so you noticed it too?”

“goes without saying.”

“i hate to question a good thing,” Rus echoed Sans’s unspoken sentiments and slowed his pace ever so slightly to widen the gap between them and the dancing trio leading the pack, “but from how she talked to blue and your bro, i figured edge or black would break her.”

“definitely a bit too easy fitting in. no one’s that adaptive,” Sans said, and then something seemed to click. With an understanding glance to Rus, Sans lit up a bit of his magic—flashing yellow and cyan in his left socket—and sent it searchingly toward Taz. It wasn’t enough to draw out her SOUL, because that wasn’t just rude: it was completely invasive.

…and intimate.

Sans was a little surprised with himself for not really worrying about that aspect of it and instead chose to focus on her aura. He could ruminate on his growing appreciation for the human later.

Humans, with the extremely rare exception, didn’t have SOULs capable of handling magic, but they had something else almost as powerful: auras. They can’t control an aura the way a monster can control magic, but it was almost more dangerous for this reason. Monsters respond to auras much more drastically than other humans: Where a human might just be able to pick up on it, monsters were _affected_ by them.

If a human’s aura resonates with a monster’s SOUL, it’s at the very least persuasive, and, at its strongest, practically intoxicating.

Looking at her this way, Sans could immediately tell why Blue and Papyrus were already so taken with Taz: it was more than her just being pretty, funny, and nice. She was _radiant_.

All around her was a blinding haze of yellows and greens: happiness and good-will. Bits of orange expressed her excitement. Baby pastel pink for whimsy or wonder—and with an almost childlike intensity. It was a good sign. A good aura.

But it was also completely wrong.

“if this is what her aura’s like, the other four wouldn’t have wanted anything to do with her,” Sans added after filling Rus in.

“eh, red was drunk and mutt will flirt with anything that moves,” Rus checked them off, but couldn’t write off the others, “and while even black can sometimes be caught in a decent mood, edge shouldn’t have liked her.”

“wait,” Sans remembered something, “you felt that weird—eh… _feeling_?—in the air when she was staring edge down?” Rus lifted his eyelights to the ceiling in thought before nodding.

“felt like i needed to step in, like she was weak and i had to protect her,” he said and Sans confirmed the feeling, “girl like that obviously doesn’t need our help; and she knows it, too.”

“but it got edge to stop, like he was realizing for the first time since he came here that he’s an unnecessary asshole.”

Rus snorted, “i’d thank her for that if it weren’t so suspicious,” he said and Sans nodded, “we should keep an eye on her. check her aura again when we get to the kitchen.”

“so what are you _expecting_ to happen?”

“not expectin’ anything yet,” Rus said with a one-shouldered shrug. Then, “wanna take bets on how long it takes him to use the ‘scary voice’ on her?”

“thought you said you weren’t judging her yet?” Sans asked but simultaneously started counting out bills from his wallet.

“nothing to do with her. expecting him to be a prick is a safe bet any day,” Rus said, then held out his palm, “i say seven minutes, forty bucks.”

Sans slapped the bills down, “deal. and i say twelve.”

As it turned out, they were both wrong. But at least it was entertaining.

Entering the kitchen right on time with the final notes of the song, Taz was distractedly fiddling to silence her phone when the occupants caught sight of her.

“WHAT A CHEERFUL SONG!” the broken, cracked voice of the hotel’s tallest skeleton drew Taz’s eye as she put her phone away. It was plain to see that she thought it was Papyrus that had spoken, and she could barely be blamed for that. However, as far as this skeleton’s brother was concerned, she could _definitely_ be blamed for the look on her face.

Fear he could deal with.

But _pity_ —pity wasn’t acceptable.

A much shorter skeleton was pushing the monolithic, fractured form of the Papyrus-doppelganger behind him, the bones of his skeletal hands, although chipped and scratched, cracking and flexing threateningly. There was a massive fissure in his skull—dark and empty despite the manic glow of his single, red eyelight.

“w h a t    y a    l o o k i n’    a t    h u m a n?”

Well he certainly didn’t waste any time. Rus handed Sans’s bills back, since Axe had already thrown the bet.

Taz changed in an instant, turning her piteous look completely neutral as she moved to face the one confronting her.

“Hey, I’m Taz,” she responded with a wave, ignoring his question. Sans had expected her to come back with some light-hearted quip, so the note of surliness in her voice was a surprise, “So are you going to act tough like Black, or are we doing the Edge thing of pretending you didn’t know I was coming?”

Well that almost sounded like her.

Axe didn’t budge, “pff, we knew you were coming, human.”

“Well than I’m sorry to have met your expectations,” she shot back, her usual humor so laced with sarcasm that it sat in the air like a lead weight. Axe didn’t respond but considered the truth of her words, biting sarcasm aside; after another moment’s thought he shifted to lean against the island counter and closed his eyes—slightly pacified but still keeping watch.

“BROTHER, PLEASE TRY TO BE NICER TO OUR NEW HUMAN FRIEND,” the taller one said, worrying his gloved hands together and fraying them even worse than they already were. The other just scoffed.

“It’s ok, I didn’t take any offense,” Taz said, her face softening and small smile returning, “It’s nice to meet you…?”

She was asking for his name. Sans sent his cousin a pointed look from behind Taz when the other began to speak without thinking, “OH YES, I’M—ERM…—JAWS! AND THIS IS MY BROTHER, AXE.”

Axe scoffed yet again but remained silent under Sans’s persistent stare.

“Happy to meet you both— _oh_ ,” Taz interrupted herself, noticing another set of eyelights peeking out from the shadowed nook that used to house the expansive kitchen’s fourth fridge. It had died months ago when one of them—who would remain nameless despite being obviously responsible—had torn into the circuits and reclaimed some bit of tech. Herb had left the space empty instead of replacing the unit, lest he encourage the cannibalization of more appliances. The reason he had actually given the lodge was that they didn’t really require human food, so they didn’t need a fourth useless fridge.

Jaws cast a nervous glance over his shoulder, then back at Sans. A wordless tension settled over the group as the mysterious set of eyelights, pulsating red and purple, focused on Taz and blinked.

“dust,” he answered in an unsettling monotone but didn’t otherwise move from his hole.

“he isn’t always in the hotel,” Sans said to Taz despite keeping his eyes locked on Jaws, “he and a few others _usually_ stay out on the island.”

Lake Erie was dotted with numerous tiny islands, but most were too small for habitation. One of the exceptions was Merle Island, which was just off the coast of the state park; it was close enough to be annexed by the government, so some of the more… troublesome residents here were sent there to be quarantined, along with a trustworthy chaperone and a few that went willingly. If Sans could help it, Taz would not be meeting anyone from the island.

Dust was _supposed_ to be one of them.

“Isn’t dust what monsters turn to when they fall down? Kind of an odd name,” Taz asked, despite making it obvious by using the term “fall down” instead of “die” that she knew the answer already. Either she was trying—unsuccessfully—to play dumb, or, much more likely since she’d already proven to be clever enough, she was trying to be polite.

“you know it is, human,” Axe called her out. She just shrugged.

“Of corpse, but I thought I’d at least check before making such a grave error,” she responded, her delivery totally deadpan. Papyrus and Blue were spared, as they had joined in the hushed conversation Sans was currently holding with Jaws on the far side of the kitchen.

Rus, apparently not being able to handle the tension anymore, had popped another sucker between his teeth and simply hovered restlessly by Taz’s side. Dust remained unmoved, eyes never leaving the new human and grin wide but strained. Axe, however, seemed to appreciate the off-color joke.

“they tell you to make that pun?” he asked, one eye cracked open and a one-sided smirk on his skull.

He meant Rus and Sans: that much was obvious. Taz shook her head, “I come pre-installed with all my own bad jokes—don’t need _zom_ -body to do it for me.”

That one was truly terrible. If Sans or Rus had said it, they’d surely have used finger guns.

“zombie puns now? What if that’s offensive to a skeleton monster?”

Taz shrugged once more, “If it somehow _undead_ all the amazing rapport we’re obviously establishing right now, I’d find some way to a- _tomb_.”

“that one’s a stretch, honey.”

“Hey I’m trying,” Taz said, shoving Rus’s arm and smirking up into his face. Axe’s grin faltered at the overly familiar interaction and his fingers twitched toward his empty socket.

“since you’ve got a decent sense of humor, i guess we can get a _flesh_ start, human,” Axe interrupted, losing the fight of willpower against his tick and tugging forcefully on his socket. He expected her to shift uncomfortably at the action—maybe even scream, that would be fun—but she remained completely unreadable.

“See, and here I was thinking we wouldn’t get on. Glad that turned out to be a _can o’ bull_.”

Axe’s reaction was immediate.

And violent.

He was rounding on Sans, eye sockets dead and grin stretched frighteningly tight, like when you rip the seam on a cloth doll and its mouth becomes overly long as it pulls against the threads. He skeletal fingers were bunched up in Sans’s hoodie and magic crackled intimidatingly around his form as he wrenched his cousin in close.

“w h a t    d i d    y o u    t e l l    h e r?”

“BROTHER!” Jaws gasped, trying to lay a comforting hand on Axe’s shoulder, but it was pushed away.

“a n s w e r    m e.”

“nothing, axe. she doesn’t know anything about you or jaws,” Sans replied quickly, sounding overly cryptic. Apparently that only made Axe more suspicious.

“ _l i a r_!” he all but roared. Taz looked ready to break things up but, surprisingly, Dust had left the shadows to keep her in place with nothing more than a single, silent shake of his skull.

“BROTHER, PLEASE! WE’VE BEEN DOING BETTER,” Jaws sounded close to tears, which finally seemed to bring Axe back to reality.

His tone was quieter but still malicious, “wasn’t enough you helped the geezer find out; now you gotta turn this one against us too.”

“we didn’t. say. anything.”

Axe appraised Sans, glaring defiantly back into his face, and released him. Jaws immediately grabbed both of his brother’s shoulders—he looked like he was trembling, but at least thankful Axe hadn’t hurt Sans.

A surge of regret rolled off of Taz like a breaking wave and it seemed to help bring the mood down. She looked no different, however.

“Would you believe I’m known for putting my foot in my mouth?” she said, “Guess I didn’t realize what making a cannibal joke _entrails_. I’ll keep in mind that they’re off the table.”

Axe stared her down, chest still heaving from his anger. Eventually it stopped altogether, as though he weren’t even breathing, “heh, don’t worry. nothing’s off the table with us, _morsel_.”

The silly giggle that left Taz was probably better suited to receiving a flirtatious compliment than Axe’s thinly veiled threat, but he didn’t seem too bothered by her anymore. Instead, he simply patted his brother’s hands and started toward the attached prep area.

“you guys should say hello to the sunspot while we’re here,” he said. Jaws and Dust followed dutifully.

“we can go it alone if you’ve got better things to do,” Sans grumbled, feathers still plenty ruffled.

“nice try, vanilla. but if you think i’m gonna let him make dinner unsupervised, you’re dreamin’,” Axe looked over his shoulder to grin toothily at Taz, “come on then, human. i’ll keep you safe.”


	6. Prologue: Squidy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!! (originally wrote "hell everyone!" there cause I'm so v. tired) Thanks so much for all the comments/kudos/hits! Last chapter we passed 100 kudos and 1,000 views!! I'm so, SO thrilled! In celebration, I figured I might share a bit with you guys about the direction for the story. So basically, from what I've already outlined, this story will have--at least--100 chapters, split up into at least 9 arcs. But there could be a ton more, because I'm enjoying writing this so much. I hope you all stick with me for it, and PLEASE keep me motivated.
> 
> This chapter is Ink Sans, which I am not super duper familiar with. Originally I had planned for him to be the really cheerful, optimistic mother of the house. And, while he's still *kind* of like that, I realized there was a lot more depth to his character after watching [Underverse](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5DrHqEfBFk&list=PLi-51t_bVTXYu30P7oLpcoimcih7EXSaA). So I'm still trying to get a handle on how exactly to get his personality across. I hope I do a good job!
> 
> Thanks for stopping by, and please enjoy! <3 <3
> 
> **Next chapter on Thursday, because Wednesday is reserved entirely for Fallout 76. Took the day off work and everything!

**The Human Soul on Fire**

_Chapter 6- Squidy_

 

Sans was currently searching his feelings, which was not something he neither bothered, nor cared, to do very often. But that said, he had to wonder why he was so irked at Taz’s lack of fear from his more… _unsavory_ “cousins.”

Was he worried for her?

Was he uncertain just how much she understood about them?

Was he just angry at the others for testing her as they had?

Or… was he jealous that she seemed to get on fine with them all?

Sans wasn’t starved for attention, not even slightly; his bro was always around, and spending time with Rus and Blue, or even Comet and Pluto, was as natural as it could be… _given their exact relation to one another_. But still, interacting with humans— _kind_ humans—was different.

However fainthearted Herb may have been in his final months, he was still miles better than dealing with the government’s representatives or, even worse, the military that kept them quartered in this tiny section of the world.

Sans found himself actually missing Frisk— _his_ Frisk—and everything they’d gone through together. Despite his wariness of their power and determination, the surface of this world just wasn’t the same without them nearby.

He hoped Flowey was behaving himself. And that Mettaton’s new show was getting the reviews he was hoping for, which he’d worked so hard for that he’d earned that praise three times over. And that Alphys and Undyne had had an amazing wedding, and that their new house was the _home_ they deserved. And even that Tori and Asgore were benefiting from their couple’s counseling.

And…

And Sans realized how lonely he was.

The park resort and nearby island may be full to bursting with others like— _and also very unlike_ —him, but it was always the same. Always the same fights, always the same stresses, always the same faces.

He wasn’t the only one to feel like that, obviously. And it was terribly selfish to wish Taz wouldn’t like the others, to want to have her to himself. But still, Sans felt it bubble up inside him as she walked alongside Axe and Jaws and even _Dust_.

And—

He should check her again.

This level of attachment shouldn’t be possible after only knowing her for a few hours.

So, as his paranoia began to overtake his jealousy, Sans once more read Taz and the aura she was putting out.

The same as last time, its power was almost overwhelming. And Sans was instantly relieved—so instantly it was embarrassing—to see it matched when he’d checked it earlier. She was chatting animatedly with Jaws about something, her eyes so wide they were like saucers; he seemed both over-the-moon and simultaneously confused that she was talking with him so normally.

Poor Jaws. Herb eventually could hold a conversation with the giant after years of abject terror, but he still never looked him in the face.

But then—

She turned to Axe and Dust when the latter tugged on her sleeve perhaps more forcefully than he should have. The hues of excitement and even kindness died immediately, but that wasn’t exactly out of the ordinary for a human on the receiving end of a monster pulling on your arm in a less-than-friendly manner. But something else replaced it: something rather telling.

There was a black, inky veil of mystery surrounding her, mixing with the pinks of curiosity and… trust? Why would she specifically feel trust with these two? Regardless, the intrigue was the more troubling part; it wasn’t really something one can _make_ others feel, it was typically a response _to_ something. It was a reaction, not a conscious choice.

This was certainly odd, but not outright damning. Not yet.

“i think we’re gonna need to see her SOUL. something weird is definitely going on.”

“lemme text remix and tango; they seem like the best ones for the job,” Rus said, pulling out his phone.

Their conversation was covered completely by a loud gasp of excitement from within the chilled meal prep room. A moment later a very enthusiastic skeleton was sending salad flying everywhere in his haste to rush Taz.

“Oh wow! You must be the new landlord, it’s nice to meet you!”

“watch what you’re doin’, ink,” Axe hissed, righting a gigantic bowl and shoveling lettuce and sliced veggies back in with his bare hands. He was certainly quick to leave Taz’s side when something truly worth his concern presented itself. Jaws helped by grabbing what had fallen to the ground to wash in the sink.

Taz was careful neither to comment nor pull a face at the sight. Not with the watchful Dust beside her, staring at her face like she had a bug scuttling around in her hair.

“It’s just a little lettuce, Axe,” the so-called Ink chided, earning a hateful glare.

“it’s food. it doesn’t get wasted,” his tone was severe, “even if it’s more disgusting than what i’m even used to eating. and poses almost zero nutritional value for us.” That was a quieter but pointed aside, but he sounded rather like a child turning his nose up at the last remaining vegetables on his dinner plate.

“That was for the new landlord,” Ink huffed at him before focusing back on Taz, “I’m so happy you’re here now! I’m Ink.”

“It’s ‘landlady,’ technically, but you can call me Taz,” she replied, switching gears with a smile.

“No.”

Well that was rather abrupt. He must mean he didn’t want to call her that. Taz righted herself once more and added, “It’s not my real name, but I don’t really like that much.”

“Oh, that’s ok then. It’s not the name I’d pick, but I’ll call you Taz if that’s what you like,” Ink’s smile was understanding, but in a strange way. Like he was doing her a favor. Still, at least he’d acquiesced.

“Uh, thanks then, Ink?” It was the first time Sans had seen her honestly thrown. Interesting.

She was a better judge of character than she could have known.

“Hey Taz, can you help me carry ingredients over to the stove? I’m making dinner,” he continued with a nod. Completely bewildered, Taz simply grabbed a few bags of veggies while Ink pulled some meat from the industrial walk-in fridge.

“Must be hard making dinner for everyone,” Taz said mostly to fill the void not occupied by Ink’s incessant humming. He leveled a hand as he hopped up on a stool in front of the stove.

“We don’t eat together too often—most just help themselves,” Ink deflated a bit as he added ingredients to a massive, bubbling pot, “Some aren’t so good at taking care of themselves though, so I try to help them. If they let me.”

“Kinda the mother hen of the house, huh?”

“I… think?” Ink seemed perplexed by the term but pleased by what sounded like a compliment, “Sometimes the others won’t let me help them, though.”

He was repeating himself, trying to press Taz to ask what he meant by that. She—wisely—side-stepped that whole thing with a non sequitur.

“Hey, do you like anime?”

Ink stopped mid-stir as he contemplated the question, then resumed his cooking once he’d thought over his answer, “I think so?”

“You just look like you might,” Taz answered his unasked question of what made her think so as she watched his long brown scarf, marred with scribbled notes and reminders to himself, flutter dangerously close to the roaring flames of the stove, “Your clothes are like… _cosplay-level_ of detailed.”

Suddenly Ink was leaning away from the pot to vomit a horrendous pile of black ink onto the kitchen tiles. Almost everyone present, with the exception of Taz and Dust, who had wandered back into his fridge hole, groaned in annoyance. She’d been on the cusp of asking if he was feeling ok before Blue spoke up.

“INK, YOU NEED TO REMEMBER TO TRY TO CONTROL YOUR EXCITEMENT.”

“But did you hear? She likes my clothes! She said I look like an anime character!”

Well that wasn’t quite what she’d said, but no one had the courage to disagree with a skeleton whose mouth was dripping sticky, dark goo like some lovecraftian demon.

“you’re burning dinner, sunspot,” Axe piped up, sidling up alongside the stove, eyes empty and foreboding. Ink merely ignored him and continued his cooking.

“We’re a varied bunch, but I hope you like it here,” Ink added to Taz with a surprisingly genuine smile.

“I appreciate that. I’m sure we’ll all get along just fine,” she responded, regarding his change in tone a little suspiciously, “Sharing a meal should help break the ice, huh?”

“not gonna be the only thing broken if ya throw out that potato, ink.”

“BROTHER,” Jaws chastised Axe, hands on his hips.

“I could’ve mistaken you for Papyrus, looking like that,” Taz told him, which caused a bit of a stir. Mostly the assembled skeletons looked awkward and avoidant. Axe and Dust simply stared her down. But Jaws looked positively emotional.

“YOU—YOU REALLY THINK SO, HUMAN?”

Instead of looking uncomfortable, Taz glanced into his twisted, jagged face and smiled sweetly, “Sure I do, Jaws.”

Axe regarded her closely, wondering, like Sans and Rus, if she knew more than she should. His thoughts were interrupted by Ink shoving the offending potato into his hands.

“I’m not going to poison our new landlady with food that’s gone bad, but you can put it in your stores,” Ink’s tone was somehow both indulgent, bordering on motherly, and also extremely condescending. Axe snarled irritably at the slight but still shuffled away to deposit the vegetable in a fridge. A sign clattered against the stainless-steel door as he shut it with a far greater force than necessary; it read: “PROPERTY OF A & JAWS / WE’LL KNOW IF YOU STEAL.”

Taz had a look on her face that was all mischief. Yeah, they’d have to warn her not to test those limits. Axe was far less forgiving than Edge, or even Black; especially when it came to food.

“Dinner is probably still a few hours away if you wanted to go meet the others,” Ink said, smile wide but eyes focused and pointed. It was unclear whether he just wanted Taz to meet everyone else or if he didn’t want her to witness more of Axe’s strange food habits.

It wasn’t really either of these reasons, but she’d have no way to know that.

“Ok, we’ll let people know about dinner as we go. See you guys in a bit,” Taz waved to everyone staying behind, even the still motionless Dust, and turned to leave. As she approached the door leading out to the dining area, she glanced up at the security camera above the frame.

And she waved to it.

Rus, Sans, and Axe shared a look, eye sockets wide with surprise. The latter made it clear despite not speaking a word: Truce.

At least until they’d figured out just who Taz was, and, more importantly, _just what she knew._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, and hey while I've got you all here! There's a writer by the name of Sanuit_2526 with a neat AU fic that's just starting out. I recommend everyone swing by for more Undertale AU fun! Their story seriously has some amazing structure and backstory; you can really tell that they care about how they're presenting everything! Link below, go give the story a read and a review. It deserves way more attention!  
> [Souls of a Kind, by Sanuit_2526](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16251485/chapters/37996310)
> 
> And if anyone else has a story they'd like me check out, drop me a link! Sometimes finding works on AO3 can be difficult, especially with the AU stuff being so hard to tag. I'm always looking for more stories to read. :)


	7. Prologue: Broseph

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! Sorry this chapter is a little late today. I got a promotion at work!! So my boyfriend and I went out for a celebratory drink at 16-Bit followed by delicious, greasy burgers. Thanks for all the kudos/comments/views, as always! I'm so happy that everyone is liking the direction. Your support means the world to me. <3
> 
> Today's chapter is about Fresh Sans! Fun fact: despite being the second shortest chapter in the prologue, this one has the most "typos," according to Word. It's all due to Fresh's dialogue, of course. He, I will admit, worried me the most to write. It's a fine line of sounding just the right kind of awful, and I wasn't confident in my ability to walk that line at first. This is the prologue chapter that took me the longest to write. That said, I *really* like how it turned out! Fresh is a ton of fun, which I was not expecting. That's kind of the power of fanfiction: it introduces us all to a bunch of characters we never thought we'd enjoy, but they surprise us.
> 
> I hope you all like the chapter! 
> 
> **I'll be back on either Sunday or Monday next. Slowing down the updates a little in preparation to move to weekly uploads, once we're out of the prologue.

**The Human Soul on Fire**

_Chapter 7- Broseph_

After all the tension from the previous meet-and-greet in the kitchens, Sans was looking for a more familiar face. He’d texted Comet and had ascertained they were over by the dorms: specifically Error’s room. He’d locked himself in again. Which, unfortunately, probably also meant the leech was around as well. Oh well. She’d have to meet him eventually.

Taz was looking excitedly around the long, straight hallway and counting the numbers on the doors, occasionally recounting a memory from some prior long-gone resident.

“Ooh, number 120. There was this family of paranormal investigators that holed up in here for, like, three months once. Completely insane, but they were a riot; uncle Basil didn’t like me getting close to them. Bit hypocritical since he believed too, but I guess he just didn’t want them rubbing off on me too much. I was super impressionable when I was twelve.”

She was a complete stream of consciousness. It was a nice void-filler, which Sans would usually be grateful for. But right now he was just wound a little too tight; he seemed to be the only one effected, though. Blue and Papyrus were enraptured by Taz’s ramblings, and Rus was even more laid back about everything than Sans. Thus, Sans was the only one worrying—and planning how to alleviate his fears.

Remix had yet to respond to his message—probably sleeping—so Sans had sent Tango off to find his brother.

“Man, being back here is nostalgic as fuck,” Taz sighed dreamily as they rounded a corner.

“Yo, that language right there is mad uncool, chica. Lay off the f-bombs.”

Damn. Of course he was still around.

Not even flinching as a cacophony of neon color and bad 90s PC lingo assaulted her, Taz was silent nevertheless as she looked over this new tenant. He was a skeleton—no surprise there—and about her height; the propeller on his multicolored baseball cap was probably the perfect height to stab her in the eye if he got much closer. Which would be difficult, as he seemed to have no concept of personal space and was currently blocking Taz’s view of the rest of the hall.

But he was certainly plenty to look at.

“Hey there Lisa Frank, sorry to upset you,” she apologized, but it was under enough layers of sarcasm to drown a man. She held up her hands and used them to push the invader far enough away that he couldn’t inspect the pores on her face anymore, “Might add that it’s also ‘mad uncool’ to jump a girl like that.”

His tone was sorry but smile unchanged, “ _Aw,_ brah, my bad, _my bad!_ Fresh knows what’s up though—when a dudette says to step off, ya do.”

There was a twitch on the side of Taz’s mouth that said she was doing everything in her power not to laugh in Fresh’s face.

“Yeah. Radical.”

This was a losing battle she was fighting.

“fresh, were you harassing error again?” Sans asked. Fresh turned to his accuser and responded with unconvincing shock.

“Nah, brah! Nah. You know how E-Bro gets; he’s _well_ not chill today, ya know? Fresh was just tryin’ to keep him from wiggin’ out.”

Sans blinked very slowly, clearly not believing his assertions, “that’s ink’s job, fresh.”

“Yo, I know that, Sansy. And Ink knows Fresh is on the up and up, so he sends him out to keep everyone hella chillin’ and relaxed.”

“Chillin’ out, maxin’, relaxin’ all cool?” Taz asked, having to hide behind her hand now to stop from barking out in laughter. Fresh swiveled her way, finger gunning.

“This dope lady dude knows what’s up,” Fresh’s grin was slightly manic, “It’s real wiggidy wiggidy wack of you to doubt ya boi, Sansy.”

“please stop calling me that.”

“What’s _wack_ is you censoring my swearing and then and going and doing it yourself, broseph,” Taz interjected, waving her hand in thought. Fresh stopped wiggling his eyebrows at a deeply uncomfortable Sans and whipped his head around so suddenly that his dark sunglasses slid slightly down his face.

“Wha’s that, kiddo?”

Taz looked introspective, “Well that’s what I’d always say when uncle Cilantro was around and I wanted to get away with saying a swear in front of him. ‘ _Wack_ ,’ I mean. It’s how kids curse.”

“Dude…”

It was the quietest Fresh had ever sounded, and he looked totally crushed. Taz was still holding back tiny escaped snickers; it was unclear whether or not she was lying to him.

“Don’t be glum, chum. You seem like a straight shooter just tryin’ to keep it reals, ain’t nothing shady ‘bout that. Taz gives ya snaps for being so stylin’ wit dat supa tight lingo, yo!”

Everyone was embarrassed to be part of this conversation now, including Fresh, who simply wandered off toward his room, head hung low, to have an existential crisis. The last they saw of him as he turned the corner were the teal and yellow letters of his sunglasses flashing a rather forlorn “YOLO??”; and then he was out of sight.

Taz made a noise like a tire leaking air before exploding into laughter; Rus joined her not too long after, wiping at his eye sockets as she had to grab onto a very confused Papyrus for support.

“SANS, WHAT LANGUAGE WAS SHE JUST SPEAKING?” he asked earnestly, which caused the two to laugh even harder. Taz was giggling so hard that she started to cough for air. Rus wasn’t helping at all, holding his skull and quoting additional lines from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song.

“PAPY STOP, YOU’RE KILLING THE HUMAN!” Blue cried at his brother, so upset that he forgot himself completely. Now even Sans was chuckling with them despite Blue’s slip up as Taz covered her face to stifle her gasping.

“I-I’m ok! I’m ok, B-Blue,” she stammered out, trying to calm down for his sake. She grabbed his hand and squeezed to alleviate his concerns; she then stopped for a moment before seemingly remembering why she was laughing, and then began again with renewed energy.

“honey, the look on his face was worth every second of listenin’ to you talk like that,” Rus was so amused that he looked like he could kiss her.

“I’d feel bad for teasing him, but it kinda sounds like he earned it.”

“don’t worry about him, sweetheart,” Sans assuaged her fears, “now let’s go meet someone a bit less neon.”

Taz followed along, arms linked with both Papyrus and Blue, as Sans waved them further down the hall. Rus handed Taz one of his coveted suckers as a reward for her bad, but hilarious, behavior. She immediately unwrapped it and popped it in her mouth.

“you’re one dynamite dame,” Rus told her, going full-on ridiculous with even more out of date slang. The grin she gave him was huge and bright, perhaps even more so from her cheeks being so red and eyes still a little wet with tears. Something inside Rus made him want to always get that look from her.

“Thanks, daddy-o.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, and remember to go check out Sanuit_2526's story [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16251485/chapters/37996310)!


	8. Prologue: Twinkles, Nightlight, and Pixels

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! Thanks for stopping by! And of course thank you to everyone who commented/gave kudos/viewed the last chapter. <3
> 
> Today's chapter is a double feature! We've got both Outertale--which DOES NOT get enough love anymore--and Error Sans! I'm very excited for Error, because he's a really important character in the story; not gonna say why, because that's spoilers, so I'll leave it at that!
> 
> I really hope you all enjoy!
> 
> **Next update on Thursday. My Thanksgiving gift for you all. :)

**The Human Soul on Fire**

_Chapter 8- Twinkles, Nightlight, and Pixels_

 

“a real mind-blowing moll.”

“And you’re one groovy gent.”

“says this lovely lass.”

“Coming from the blithest bloke.”

“not hard to compliment such a grand gal.”

“Ooh, you’re gonna make me blush, you fly fella.”

“sweet bit a’ skirt like you, maybe that’s what i’m trying for.”

“PLEASE, I CAN’T STAND YOUR NONSENSE ANY LONGER,” Papyrus wailed, head snapping back and forth between Taz and Rus as they devolved further into decades-dead slang.

“Don’t worry, Paps. We’re just having some fun. Everything’s jake,” Taz continued, smile genuine but eyes glinting.

“yeah paps, don’t be a bluenose. join us,” Rus added.

“THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE WHEN YOU TWO ARE SPEAKING IN TONGUES.”

“Phonus balonus!” Taz managed in between giggles at both Papyrus and her own ridiculous words, “If you think this is worse than that balderdash Fresh was spitting, you can tell it to Sweeney.”

“WHO IS SWEENEY—”

“and how! total bushwa,” Rus interrupted and Taz laughed harder, “don’t go gettin’ in a lather now.”

“BUT I’VE ALREADY SHOWERED TODAY!”

“I’m sorry Paps, but you’ve gotta be more hip to the jive. Seems you don’t really know your onions,” Taz kept on, but she did look a little guilty for confusing the sweet skeleton so completely.

Sans finally stepped in, coming to his brother’s aid, “alright pipe down, you two. bank’s closed.”

“Now you’re on the trolley!”

“mind your potatoes.”

Rus and Taz responded at the same time but with polar opposite responses, which—of course—caused another wave of mirth to pass through them. Rus only stopped to check his phone, his brows arching in Sans’s direction; he put his phone back in his pocket without replying to whatever notification he’d received.

“heh, i’m off anyway,” he said, patting Taz on the head as he ambled away, “gotta go see a man about a dog.”

“ _Hey_ , and you’re just gonna leave me here holding the bag?” she quipped, trying to keep up the banter. Rus just waved at her as he went.

“i’ll catch up, honey. then we’ll go get zozzled,” he said with a slow wink. Taz lit up as she called back.

“Ossified!”

“blotto,” he returned, disappearing from view.

“Edged!” she yelled anyway, hands cupped around her mouth and smile wide. She then looked over to Blue, who was apparently trying to solve the mystery of the last few minutes with Papyrus in hushed whispers, “I like your brother.”

“what’s that about edge now?” a new voice, remarkably similar to Sans’s but a mark slower, spoke. Blue pinned his wrists to his hips.

“SHE MEANT _MY_ BROTHER, COMET!”

“that other thing was some weird 20s way of saying drunk,” Sans clarified for the two newcomers. Taz didn’t miss a beat before bustling over in a fit of good humor.

“Hey there, how’d ya do? I’m Taz—not my real name, please don’t ask for it—and I’m a bit giggly at the moment but I hope you’ll come to trust me as your new landlady.” She’d somehow managed to say it all in one breath, much to the obvious surprise, and confusion, of two very… _galactic_ skeletons.

There was a tall one and a short one—which was definitely on-brand for everyone Taz had met so far—and both were decked out in the most brilliantly yellow and navy clothes; there was definitely a spacey theme about them. Sans caught her eyes traveling along the length of the taller one’s scarf and sparkling with admiration at all the beautiful golden constellations embroidered on it.

The shorter one shifted in his starry slippers, closing a socket as if to focus on the human before him, “nice to meet you, kid. happy to have you.” His tone was deep and warm, just like Sans, but Taz could tell he carried a lot less tension than the other. She could hear a true note of repose in his voice that she’d yet to hear from any other member of the house.

She was going to like him, she could just tell.

“YES, WE’RE HAPPY TO HAVE SUCH AN ENTHUSIASTIC NEW LANDLADY,” the other spoke up, smiling widely before striking a pose, “I AM THE OUTSTANDING PLUTO, AND THIS IS MY BROTHER COMET: WHO DOES HIS BEST TO BE EXCEPTIONAL AS WELL.” Comet actually looked to be about ten seconds from falling asleep but smiled serenely at his brother’s praise.

“Outstanding, huh?” Taz said, eyes shining in such a way that Sans knew what she would say next, “I’d say you’re totally _out of this world_ , Pluto!”

Three groans of protest sounded as Taz cackled at her terrible pun. It was clear she meant to win Comet over with awful humor, and then make it up to Pluto afterward. Not a bad tactic considering the more easygoing nature of the two.

“you’re alright, sunshine,” Comet responded, quieting his chuckles and waving at Pluto to calm down.

Taz continued to ogle their amazing clothes, practically squealing with joy when Pluto let her hold his scarf, her fingers tracing the patterns and naming the constellations as if she were seeing them in the night sky itself. By the time she was dramatically recounting the story between Perseus and Andromeda, Sans noticed someone sneaking over toward Error’s bedroom door. He didn’t even need to see him properly to know it was Fresh.

“dude, back off and leave him alone,” Sans called, making Fresh jump a foot into the air as though he was surprised to have been caught. If he didn’t know the parasite so well at this point, Sans might have bought the act.

“Oh, it’s Rainbow Bright again,” Taz’s smile was devilish, but Sans didn’t think he could stomach another onslaught of what she’d already dealt out. At least not until he’d had a day to prepare for it again, and preferably after a couple of those drinks she’d made for him at the bar.

That felt like days ago now.

Better to keep this exchange short.

“Yo, landlady!” Fresh replied but didn’t leave his post guarding the door, “What’s good?”

“Comet and Pluto,” she responded to his question literally, with a point toward the two newest guests she’d met. Pluto looked both proud and shy at her implying them to be “good.” Comet had fallen asleep, finally.

“Riiight, those two rad dudes are straight bangin’, am I right?” Fresh agreed, but Pluto seemed to balk a bit at the descriptor. A snort of amusement escaped from Taz.

Uh oh. Red alert.

Sans prepared for more cringe-worthy slang.

“Bangin’? Kind of a strong term for such sweet, soft boys.” And Pluto was back to blushing.

Sans breathed a sigh of relief she hadn’t engaged Fresh in another verbal battle while he simultaneously started to sweat. He silently begged Fresh not to voice the thought he knew he’d just had.

“Soft?” _Please don’t say it_ , “But us skeletons are mad hard, yo!”

Oh god.

Before today, Sans was pretty sure awkwardness was just a feeling: an intangible state of mind. An emotion. Or, at worst, the type of pinched look reflected on nearly every face currently occupying the hallway.

But he was now aware that awkwardness, apparently, can take physical form if powerful enough and condensed into a single misplaced innuendo between a walking, talking disaster like Fresh and their new human landlady.

It was like the weather itself had changed.

But then the clouds broke as Taz giggled again, “I’m not touching _that_ with a ten-foot pole.”

Sans snorted at the implication of her statement, but it sailed right over Fresh’s head. After a bit of pointed eye contact with Comet, Sans convinced his cousin to shoo Fresh away and back to the kitchens; Taz hovered by the door he’d vacated, going back to singing with Blue and Papyrus. After a few minutes a muffled voice sounded beyond the door.

“Is—zzt—it not enough that the worm was bothering me? S-s-stop with the noise.”

Papyrus and Blue immediately stopped and took a large step away from the door. Comet wandered over to rap his boney knuckles once against the dark oak door.

“new landlady’s here, e. come out and say hello.”

The response was immediate: “No-o-ot-t happening.”

Nobody seemed surprised by that answer. Taz glanced at Sans, her eyes asking a silent question; he thought it over, before nodding and motioning for her to introduce herself. Comet moved aside as she stepped up to the door and took a breath.

“Sorry to catch you off-guard,” she began, hands knit together in a surprisingly delicate manner for her, “Did the others mention I was coming through?”

A hand clacked against the door, barely audible. He was apparently listening.

“You’re Error, right?” she asked, giving him the chance to introduce himself on his own terms.

Had they said his full name before now? Sans didn’t even have time to consider it before Taz received her response.

“Wh-what’s your n-n-name?”

There was something odd about his voice. Well, odder than his usual glitching, hitching tone. And Sans immediately felt bad for finding it strange, because he sounded a margin more human than usual. It might be his norm, were his life different.

“I’m Taz. It’s nice to meet you, Error.”

There were several long seconds of everyone holding their breath before Error spoke again, “Is he gone?”

“we sent fresh to go help ink,” Comet confirmed. There was a small grunt on the other side of the door and then the metallic clicking of a half-dozen locks before the door was tugged open about a foot.

Taz kept her hands clasped together, fighting the urge to wave at the skeleton before her. He was, again, rather short, but might be taller if he weren’t slouching. His bones were black, much like his dark jacket, so large on his frame that he could disappear into it completely, and his badly patched and stitched shorts. He would have practically disappeared into the darkness of his bedroom if not for the bright blue scarf around his neck and his narrowed red eyes.

“I like your flip flops,” Taz commented lightly. Error glared at his own feet as if he’d forgotten, then met her stare again.

“You’re not gonna-a-a see me much. I’m either in here or wor-working-ing in the lab,” he responded brusquely, seeming to already regret leaving his room.

“Gotcha, I’ll stay out of your way,” she nodded, eyes a little cloudy but smile understanding. Error looked into her face for another second before slamming the door shut without further preamble. Comet rolled his eyes at his actions and turned to apologize to Taz, but she interrupted.

“Thanks for taking the time,” she thanked Error through the door. There was the sound of him shuffling away without a response, but he at least hadn’t locked his door again.

“that was real nice of you anyway, sunshine,” Comet said, noticing a hint of sadness crossing her face before being swiftly replaced by an unconvincing but abundant buoyancy.

“It’s your guys’ house. I don’t mind interacting with everyone on their own level,” she said offhandedly before once more grabbing the hands of Blue and Papyrus and continuing down the hall.

“she’s not what i expected,” Comet said to Sans as Pluto jogged to catch up with the others, “not what he expected either, obviously.” He threw his thumb over his shoulder toward Error’s door.

Sans didn’t answer immediately as he was still mulling over Taz’s words in his skull, and not just her claiming the house more as theirs than hers. Maybe there wasn’t anything nefarious going on with her. Maybe she truly meant what she said: that she wanted to talk to everyone how they wanted to be talked to. To relate to each of them in the way that suited them best, and to connect with them as individuals.

Sometimes Sans forgot they weren’t all the same person.

“i think we lucked out for once,” Sans agreed, but there was something still tickling at the back of his mind—like he was falling for it too easily. Letting go too easily.

It was hard to ignore his paranoia. And it was better to be safe than sorry. The plan would have to continue as is.

Watching his brother, Blue, and Pluto swing their joined hands to make Taz laugh, Sans truly hoped nothing came of it. He hoped he was wrong, that he was being paranoid simply due to his past and not from anything she’d done to worry him.

But the stakes were too high just to hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, and remember to go check out Sanuit_2526's story [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16251485/chapters/37996310)!  
> They jsut posted chapter 3 and now I have to go run and read it, bye!!  
> And if you've got a story you're working on, drop me a comment to let me know! I'm always looking for new stories to read.


	9. Prologue: Tease, Charmer, and Giggles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Thank you as always for all your lovely comments and kudos, or for simply checking out my story! Seeing you all enjoy each chapter absolutely makes my day.
> 
> This chapter is mostly Underlust, but Gaster!Sans is also here. I almost didn't put Lust in this story, but I honestly really enjoy writing them as characters; they're really open to interpretation and I can basically write them how I like, so long as they have a general sense of sensualness/sexuality about them. G is much more complicated and I haven't read Echotale, but he'll be used a little more sparingly than some of the other AUs, so it gives me time to work out exactly how he fits with the others. I hope you all have a good time with this chapter, because while writing it I had myself giggling almost the entire time. lol
> 
> And on another note if you celebrate it, please have a safe and happy holiday! If any of you are working retail on Black Friday, remember to take time to breathe and collect yourself if it gets too stressful. I'm lucky enough to have an office job, so I haven't had to work retail in a few years; it's not easy, and you're all very brave for going through it. And as for Thanksgiving, if you happen to belong to a toxic or unsupportive family, I want to remind you that it's ok not to participate, or to opt out entirely. Don't feel like you have to put up without something that isn't good or safe for you just because of the holiday. And if you don't have one, I will be your family! I think anyone in the UT fandom would do the same. 
> 
> We have a wonderful community surrounding this fandom, and I feel truly lucky to be part of it. Take some time today to relax, do something you like, and remind your friends how much you love them. I love all of you! <3
> 
> **Next update is on Monday. See you all then!

**The Human Soul on Fire**

_Chapter 9- Tease, Charmer, and Giggles_

 

“So these guys aren’t allowed in the living room anymore?”

Sans made a noncommittal noise, “nah, that’s not it exactly. but it’s easier than saying they can go there with the proviso that they don’t touch the tv.”

“There’s a story there,” Taz prompted him, nudging his shoulder when he started to look around for an exit, “Hey, no secrets between friends, right? Especially not after all the honesty I had to give out on the playground.”

Ah, she was referring—most likely—to admitting to having monster partners in the past. Which… was surprisingly fitting for this conversation, actually.

“they um… they got caught playing— _porn_ ,” Sans could barely get the word out, his cheeks lighting up blue as he tugged on the string for his hoodie. Taz lowered her voice, and her face, conspiratorially.

“Porn, really? On that huge screen? _Scandalous!_ ”

Sans cracked a bit of a grin and pushed her back, “well yeah, a bit, since blue and pap were the first ones to stumble across it.” Her face instantly morphed with regret.

“Oh no, not the precious angels!” She looked over to where Comet was currently harassing them with terrible space puns.

“i mean, it’s not like they’re kids, sweetheart.” Sans didn’t mind her appreciating their purity, but he also didn’t want her infantilizing them. She turned a quizzical look toward him.

“I know? I just—I think even _I_ would be upset at walking in to surprise porn,” she said bluntly, making Sans sputter in both amusement and curiosity. _Even her_ , huh? That might be some telling phrasing.

“so yeah, that’s why,” Sans capped off the explanation right as they shouldered open the grandiose doors to the main living area. It was the lower split level of the lounge and bar; Sans briefly wondered if Red and Edge had made their way back there after they all had moved on.

Wouldn’t be unheard of.

And speaking of not being unheard of: Pink and Jazz were indeed breaking all the rules by not only being present in the living area—like Sans had expected—they were also— _as expected_ —speaking in hushed tones as they messed with the tv’s controls.

Papyrus immediately jumped in to police them, gasping at their blatant disregard for the law, “YOU TWO AREN’T ALLOWED TO PLAY VIDEOS ANYMORE!” Blue backed him up with an adorable glare and blue cheeks.

“YEAH, NOT AFTER… AFTER WHAT HAPPENED!”

Three skeletons turned to face the newly arrived group. One looked like the odd man out in his white turtleneck and dark moto jacket, especially in comparison to the other two, who were either brothers or the kind of couple that really enjoyed wearing matching clothes.

It was easy to spot which two were the ones in trouble right now.

The taller one curved his back and poised a hand on his glowing pink midriff with an inspiring elegance.

“Now now, baby blue,” he chided, voice liquidy like silk, “We haven’t done anything wrong.”

The other came to lean against him, one eye closed and smile wicked, “And we’ve got our court-appointed chaperone to make sure we’re _good boys_.”

The third skeleton in the moto jacket shrugged as Sans rounded on him with tired but questioning eyes, “They were going to put on a Marvel movie.”

Be still Taz’s beating heart. These three and their voices might be the end of her.

“YOU AREN’T FOOLING ME, PINK!” Blue pushed back, meeting the eyes of the shorter one. But that might be so he didn’t have to examine the bones exposed by his crop top, “YOU TWO DON’T EVEN _LIKE_ SUPERHEROES.”

“Oh I beg to differ,” the so-called Pink disagreed, “Jazz and I _love_ superheroes.”

“All those muscles and sweat? Well I could just _swoon_ ,” Jazz, the one with the magically solid stomach, added. He and Pink shared a look with each other, made a noise of appreciation with a shiver, and then chuckled at Blue’s distaste for walking into such an easy setup.

“ok, if we’re all done harassing each other?” Sans broke it up, keeping things fair despite Blue and Papyrus being the only ones truly upset, “taz, this is pink and jazz. and that over there is g.”

It was now that the aforementioned brothers pretended to notice the human for the first time, immediately sliding over to poke and prod at her, as well as deliver a volley of cheesy pick-up lines rapid-fire.

“Is that a mirror in your pocket, beautiful? Cause I can see myself in your pants.” That was Pink.

“Are you religious? Because you’re the answer to all my prayers, gorgeous,” was Jazz’s much more eloquent offering.

“If you were a steak, after a night with me you’d be _well done_.” The pun came from Pink and had Taz laughing.

“I know you must be busy today, but can you add me to your to-do list?”

“Are you a cat? Because I’m _feline_ a connection between us.”

“Are you lost, baby girl? Heaven is a long way from here.”

On and on an on it went; everyone was frozen in apprehension, just waiting for Taz to either punch them or push them away. But it never came.

She actually seemed entertained.

Pink finally won the competition for worst line, however: “What has thirty-six teeth and holds back the Incredible Hulk? My zipper.”

Keeping with the Marvel theme, apparently.

But Taz was laughing so hard that she had to cover her mouth to stifle the noise. Pink smirked.

“But your cock is pink, not green,” Jazz corrected him, which had Taz howling. He looked triumphant despite Pink’s expression remaining confident.

“Well it’ll be _green with envy_ if I have to go much longer knowing those wet blankets know your name when I don’t, doll,” Pink said as Taz tried to calm down.

“her name’s taz and you’ll lay off her if ya know wha’s good for ya, perv!” This was the voice of Red, who had appeared at the rail overlooking the living room. So he _had_ gone back to the bar.

“Ooh, ‘Taz,’ huh? Are you a little devil, baby girl?” Jazz cooed in Taz’s ear as he gave her an appraising look. She surprised everyone again by nodding, eyes gleaming.

“You’re the only one to figure that out so far,” she said, smile coquettish, “I was a holy terror as a kid and my family called me the tasmanian devil.”

“You’ve got some fire, we can tell,” Pink nodded between himself and his brother, “We’re the only ones here who will appreciate that spark.”

“’ey, she flirted with me first!” Red yelled, voice still slurring and nearly casting himself over the bannister as he shook his fist at Pink and Jazz. Edge appeared now to hold back his brother and keep his feet firmly on the ground; he looked as unhappy as ever about it.

Pink and Jazz turned again to Taz, their heart-shaped eyelights blown wide in curiosity, “Is that so?”

“Yeah, I did,” Taz answered automatically, not sounding concerned with the admission, and then shrugged, “He didn’t give me a response other than teleporting away.”

Jazz tsked at Red as Pink slithered his arm around Taz’s shoulders so skillfully that no one noticed it happening.

“He’s a lost cause, gorgeous,” Jazz said, and Pink nodded solemnly.

“All bark,” said Pink, drawing in close and then snapping his teeth together with a click next to her ear, “And no bite.”

“See, that’s exactly what I said,” Taz chuckled, not even flinching at his closeness. Jazz returned to put a finger under her chin and lift her line of sight to his own eyes.

“You’ll find out you’d have much better luck trying it with some skeletons that have a bit of courage,” he purred.

It was now that Sans realized how full the room had suddenly become. It seemed like everyone in the lodge had been drawn in by Red’s drunken self-interested chivalry. Even Error had left the black hole of his room to glare with unchecked hatred toward the lustful duo. The only ones still missing were Rus, Remix, and Tango. Of course—the ones he _needed_ here. It was only Taz’s casual response to Jazz’s proposal that brought him back to the situation at hand.

“Well gee, are you offering?”

It was pretty clearly a joke on Taz’s part, and one that Pink and Jazz found amusing enough to back off from grilling her. But they seemed especially pleased with her answer, perhaps due to it not being a “no.”

That was interesting.

“She’s an intriguing one,” G caught Sans by surprise as he watched Taz swap increasingly more disgusting pick-up lines with Pink and Jazz, “Something off about her, though. And I don’t mean the obvious willingness to _bone_ skeletons. That suits me fine.”

“lay off, g,” Sans sighed in exhaustion and, _maybe_ , slight jealousy. Maybe.

“Heh, not denying that, huh? She must have been doing enough to make you wonder too,” G continued, slipping a candy cigarette between his teeth. He had less of a sweet tooth than Rus but the same oral fixation.

Sans didn’t bother dignifying that with a response, but G would still be able to read his silence. Not that G needed the confirmation anyway: He was unrivaled when it came to reading people, human _or_ monster.

Speaking of… that might be helpful.

“so what do you think of her?” Sans probed. G leaned against the fireplace mantle, bending his leg and resting a booted foot against the wall.

“She’s funny and cute, and what’s better is that she knows it. Too good for you all,” G responded, and Sans didn’t even react other than a look of pure fatigue. G was just doing it to get a rise out of him, but he was far too tired at this point in the day to fight back.

“anytime you wanna be serious, man.”

“Alright, alright,” G chuckled softly, glancing back to Taz and thinking.

“honest thoughts this time.”

“Last thought wasn’t dishonest either,” G said. Then: “So if every coin has two sides, this girl is more like a die. That’s what I think.”

“dice can have any number of sides, g,” Sans remarked, a little shocked by his answer, “how many we talking here?”

G shrugged on one side of his shoulders, eyes narrowed as he watched the new landlady and fingers holding the candy cigarette as if it were real, “Can’t say. But at least six.”

By about this time, Taz was wracking the dirty, childish portion of her brain for one last killer line and Red had finally wrestled free of Edge’s grip to hurdle himself down the stairs. Conversely, Axe and Error were reaching their limits for insanity and had started for the doors. The only thing that stopped everyone was Rus, Remix, and Tango entering the living room, casting the large doors widely into the room.

Well—that drew a _few_ eyes. What _truly_ rooted the lodge to their spots was Taz turning, her eyes suddenly sparkling, and launching herself at Tango, who returned her ecstatic hug after comprehension dawned across his face.

“OH, MISS ANISE! I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU ARE HERE! WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY YOU WERE COMING TO VISIT?” Tango yelled, swinging Taz around.

_What had he called her?_

“I couldn’t be sure it was the same house full of skeletons as where you lived, but I’m so happy it is, Papy!” she giggled, sounding a little emotional. It would have been a heartwarming sight if it weren’t _all wrong_.

And wait— _what had she called him?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, and remember to go check out Sanuit_2526's story [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16251485/chapters/37996310)!  
> And if you've got a story you're working on, drop me a comment to let me know! I'm always looking for new stories to read.


	10. Prologue: Sansy and Papy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, lovely peoples! Thank you for checking out my newest chapter today, and for the past comments/kudos/views!! Every day I smile from all the love you guys give the story, so I truly, truly mean that thanks from the depths of my heart.
> 
> This is the last chapter of the prologue!! It's also my favorite chapter; music really inspires me, and it's sometimes the only good part of my day when things are bad. So getting to include some of that passion in the following scene really thrills me. :) This chapter also--officially--introduces Dancetale! Remix and Tango are important characters in the story, mostly due to them already knowing Taz; getting to explore their shared history is something I'm very excited for!
> 
> And, sadly, starting from now and moving forward, we'll have to go to weekly uploads. I have a few additional chapters written/typed, but I have a tendency to freak out from the pressure of keeping to an upload schedule if I need to draft, type, and edit a chapter in the same week it's published. So this is my way of making sure I'm always well enough ahead that you guys shouldn't ever feel the sting of being without new content for too terribly long! :) But have no fears, because I have a very clear idea of what's coming next every week (like I said, I've outlined 100 chapters already). Now I just gotta write it all! lol
> 
> Please enjoy! I'm on the edge of my seat to hear what you guys think of this chapter's big secret reveal!!
> 
> **Next update is next Monday! <3

**The Human Soul on Fire**

_Chapter 10- Sansy and Papy_

 

They knew each other, that much was obvious. He’d called her by a different name than what he knew her as, but it was _obvious_ they _knew_ each other.

How _the hell_ did they know each other?

And how did she know Tango’s real name?

This shit was getting too complicated.

And Sans was just so, _so_ tired. This day needed to end. Or, preferably, he’d wake from this nightmare he’d found himself in.

But for starters, someone needed to give him some answers.

“remix.”

The short skeleton visibly flinched, sweating profusely under the hood he was so desperately trying to hide under. Remix was not usually so nervous—that was Red’s thing—so Sans knew he was correct in directing the blame in the dancer’s direction.

At least Remix didn’t try to avoid the accusation. Sans always liked that about his cousin.

He may not like him as much after he explained himself, but that remained to be seen.

“we met online.” That was his response. And a woefully inadequate one at that.

“and you used your real _names_?” Sans sighed, exasperation oozing out of his every orifice. Remix made a noise of irritation but didn’t deny it.

“we met on a music forum. her sister was approaching us to collaborate on a project—we said no, by the way, _you’re welcome_ ,” Remix bit back and Sans rolled his eyes, “her sister got busy with logistics, so tazer took over her account to coordinate us monsters. we still talked to her even after saying no; it was just nice to have someone outside this house.”

“ _tazer_?” Cute nicknames too? Sans couldn’t believe this, “why did your brother call her ‘anise?’” He demanded, side-stepping the truth of Remix’s words in regard to the loneliness he himself also felt and instead choosing to be angry.

“she hates her name, man; of course we call her by a nickname,” Remix tried to both defend himself as well as look sheepish, before changing his mind in a moment and biting back with sass, “i’d say you should be familiar with the concept, but _you_ got to keep _your_ real name.”

Sans felt that one. His glare softened slightly and silently signaled Remix to continue with his explanation.

“her sister’s named Anniston, so paps shortened it. he could never tell them apart because they’re twins, so he’d end up calling her by her sister’s name all the time. she thought it was funny, so the name stuck.”

This was all too confusing. And _far_ too convenient.

“there’s nothing bad going on here, classic,” Remix read his mind, or maybe just his expression, “she’s honestly pretty alright. we could do a lot worse for a landlord.”

Sans considered those words as he glanced over to Taz, who had engaged Tango in a hushed conversation but was doing a bad job of hiding the elation all over her face. She did seem to truly care about him…

But what about her weird aura? Or any of the _other_ weirdness surrounding her all day—take your pick, _all_ of it was strange.

“we’ve gotta move forward with the plan,” Sans again denied the hopeful, optimistic voice inside him as he reminded himself of the stakes. Remix deflated a little, eyes wandering toward Taz as he scratched at the back of his skull.

“you know she may not forgive me? forgive any of us?”

But Sans’s mind was made up, “i’ll take the heat if it goes wrong.”

“fine, i’m going,” Remix sighed, then: “hey tazer!”

Taz broke her uninterrupted eye contact with Tango despite Red having joined her side to try and regain her attention. Remix shuffled over and removed a hand from his baggy sweatpants to hold out to her. The entire room turned their eyes to him.

“how ‘bout a dance?”

Taz stared Remix down, eyes still sparkling but brows once more furrowed in thought. She’d spoken with him and Tango enough to know what sharing a dance would mean: SOUL resonance. Well, assuming they were compatible.

It was quite a leap towards the next step in their friendship. And even that was underplaying the significance of it.

The look passed from her face as she smiled coyly, “But I thought you said you’d never dance with me, Sansy.”

Half of the room reacted with varying degrees of frustration at her nickname—Remix included, who was diverting his eyes and trying to fight the blue threatening to climb his cheekbones—but he maintained his relaxed posture.

“wouldn’t just be me: tango would too.”

As if on cue, despite not knowing of his brother’s intent, Tango jumped to back him up, “MISS ANISE, IT WOULD BE AN ABSOLUTE JOY TO DANCE WITH YOU! WE KNOW NO BETTER WAY TO WELCOME YOU TO OUR—EH, _YOUR_ HOME.”

That seemed to do it. Taz agreed gleefully without a second’s hesitation.

No going back now.

“go pick out a song, tazer,” Remix directed her toward the living room’s stereo system, “i know you know about monster soul songs, so let’s hear what yours would be. make it a good one.”

She said she knew just the one with a wink as she pulled up a video app onto the tv and started to key in a song. Red and Rus helped Tango move some couches out of the way so the three of them would have plenty of room.

No going back now.

“ready when you are, sweetheart,” Remix said, taking position with his brother as Taz hopped cheerfully to the center of the room and made a sly innuendo about all the people watching their first time together. “not gonna let it be the last either,” Remix added a little remorsefully as Taz nodded for Rus to start the video.

No going back now.

The video seemed to be from a channel dedicated to videogame music remixes and started with its logo accompanied by a fitting spotlight sound effect. Taz had her eyes closed as though she were shy—which obviously wasn’t the case, as Sans could see the tiny elated smile on her lips despite her bowed head obscuring the rest of her face. She moved to clasp her hands together behind her back as the music started: [retro, lighthearted chip-tune](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV3w2PZn8z4).

Her feet began to move in time to the music, rapid, exact clicks and taps against the aged wood floor. The rest of her body was remarkably stationary and stick-straight despite the speed of her kicks. Remix and Tango joined her after a few moments of adjusting to the style and attempted to match her, but she made them look sloppy by comparison.

Then the main theme started—much more flowing and modern, but still maintaining the midi quality. Taz switched her style as well, loosening her arms and spreading her feet as Tango began to circle her, eyelights intense and SOUL calling with hers to resonate.

It was a total train wreck of styles and genre: Remix flipping and pulling complicated tricks while his brother stepped quickly, one-two-three one-two-three, around them and clapped or swung his arms. And Taz… well, Sans should have already known she’d do her own thing.

It wasn’t that far removed from the thrashing he’d witnessed her doing in her car just before he’d officially met her, but now she had the room needed to fully unleash her own personal chaotic energy. She was all swiveling hips, bouncing shoulders, and stomping feet. She was signing wildly with her hands and even mouthing along to lyrics that weren’t there, smile huge and lighting up her eyes; Sans wouldn’t be surprised if she was simply making the words up as she went.

It reminded Sans of those anime music videos Alphys had once shown him in preparation for her and Undyne’s wedding; they were recreating some for the reception, since anime was one of the first things to have brought them together as friends, and then as a couple. Sans hadn’t ever gotten to see them in action, but he got the distinct feeling this is how Undyne would have looked doing it.

There was something very Taz about taking such a delicate form of dance and adding… her own _exuberant flair_ to it. Sans found he liked that. He found that he had no trouble admitting that he liked Taz, too.

_What was he doing?_

Remix synced with Taz as their SOULs began to resonate: adopting her style and incorporating it, blending it, with his own.

There’s no going back.

Tango gently took Taz’s hand, bowing to her and leading her around the floor as he began to pick up on some of her gestures. As he pulled her close, the music changed again—losing its intensity but filling the space with a sweeping, sweet melody. As he spun her away, her footwork briefly resembling his, their SOULs resonated too.

Taz found herself spinning toward Pink and Jazz, who caught her and laughed softly, kissing her on either cheek before pushing her lightly toward the others.

Papyrus and Blue blushed as Taz picked up their hands and swung them around in a circle, before the momentum propelled her away and sent her bumping hips with Axe.

He sneered at her attempts to engage him in dance, but it lacked his usually caustic vitriol. Jaws delightedly moved his hips with hers in a mock twist before waving her off to Comet and Pluto—the latter of whom lifting her off the ground and softly tossing her to be caught by Mutt, whose hands lingered a little too long on her waist.

She curtsied to his Highness Black, who tried to deny the desire to whisk her off and resigned himself to bowing back.

Red snatched her away, pulling her close to him by the hands and winking. But he’d sent her off again in an instant when she’d closed the distance even more by tugging on the fluff on his hood.

Edge barely even glanced at her, arms crossed and cheeks red, as she waved and skipped toward the odd group of Fresh, Ink, and G.

While Fresh and Ink did their own individual approximations of dance, G surprised her with an elegance she hadn’t expected, which had her fanning her face as Rus came up behind her to grab her other hand and hold it over her head.

He twirled her with a chuckle, and, as she spun, she caught a vague glimpse of Dust’s red and purple eyelights watching her from a darkened corner, pulsing in time with the music.

Error glared at her outstretched hand and said nothing, but his foot may have been tapping along. Maybe.

Last was Sans, who had slumped into a couch. He lost sight of her as she went behind him so she could vault over the back of the couch. She pulled him up by the hands and he half-heartedly spun with her for a moment, cheeks brilliantly blue, before Tango came to retrieve her to once more finish the song as it had started, with the same more retro-sounding 8-bit melody.

All three of them were back to the odd straight-backed tap dance technique, but this time they were all in sync from their SOUL resonance.

And then Sans made the connection of where he’d seen this before.

_In a darkened room. The old CRT tv made the inky blackness of midnight bluey and ethereal._

_A video played on VHS, showing its age with scanlines and the top bars of the image waving back and forth like the waves on the nearby lake._

_A little girl, hair in double braids, kicking her feet and trying to keep her back straight. The others could do it with no problem, but she had too much energy, her enthusiasm boundless, and had to clasp her hands together behind her back to do it properly._

_The girl was smiling—smiling so wide it could split her face—but Herb’s face was gaunt and slack with grief._

_A bottle of dark liquor distorted the image on screen from the table beside his chair._

_There were tears on his face, reflecting the light before him._

Taz caught his eyes in a moment, hers looking a little wet despite her wide smile—a smile so wide to could split her face. Neither was ingenuine. She could smile in absolute elation and also feel like crying; neither one negated the other, made the other impossible. Tears and smiles are not mutually exclusive. And now Sans understood her in totality, just from sharing that look.

…

Their SOULs were resonating.

How? Sans didn’t know it was possible for anyone other than Remix and Tango to cause SOUL resonance just from dancing, but there was no denying it. That memory of finding Herb drunkenly crying over the little dancing girl with braids in her hair: he wasn’t the only one who had witnessed that moment. Taz had found herself in that same place before, _been_ that little girl before.

And now that he was testing for it, Sans could feel other SOULs resonating with hers too.

…All of them.

Stars, _what was he doing??_

Before Sans could yell for Remix to stop, to forget everything he’d told him, the song had ended with a happy little blip and Remix was yanking her SOUL free of her body to float about a foot from her chest. There wasn’t any pain, but she couldn’t offer any resistance either; when a SOUL resonates, it’s opening itself up fully and willingly. That’s why Sans had chosen Remix for the job.

And he didn’t think he’s regretted anything more since coming to this damned timeline.

It was too late. The damage was done.

Taz looked around furtively, expression only momentarily hurt before she buried it. The room was silent—Rus had turned off the autoplay—and waited for Taz to react. She finally did after what felt like years.

“Well if you guys were really that desperate for me to _bare my soul_ , you could have just asked,” she chided, but her tone was still playful. She should be furious. Why wasn’t she furious?

The atmosphere in the room shivered as she winked, “I did say no secrets, so I’ll just admit my biggest one: I’m not human. Well, not completely, anyway.”

That much was obvious despite not making a lick of sense: it was there for them all to see in her silvery-white SOUL, floating upside-down in the stillness of the silent lodge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo, I'm really curious to hear what you guys think! Sitting on this twist has been EXTREMELY difficult for me, because I'm so bad at keeping in secrets. If you could share your thoughts, it would make my day to hear them! <3
> 
> And please remember to go check out Sanuit_2526's story [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16251485/chapters/37996310)!  
> Also, if you've got a story you're working on, drop me a comment to let me know! I'm always looking for new stories to read.


	11. Spring: Changeling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello dears!! Thank you again for all your amazingly lovely comments/kudos/hits on this story! I am bolstered by your kinds words every day. <3 This chapter starts the first Spring arc in the story, which will go through at least two in-universe years for Taz and the boys.
> 
> I truly appreciate all the thoughts/insights you guys gave me on the last chapter. I don't usually do cliffhangers/twists to quite that magnitude, so I was anxious to see how you would react. So I'm glad most only seemed upset *for* Taz, and not because of her. Her history and family background was something I almost didn't include in the story, since most readers in these harem fics are totally human; but honestly, what started as a circumstantial reason for all the boys--as different as they are--to still somehow also all be interested in Taz, actually turned into a huge component of her character. I'm very excited to get more into it in this chapter, and continue that characterization throughout the rest of the story as well!
> 
> I've also linked some music toward the end of the chapter, which I really recommend checking out while you read as it helps set the mood. Taz is a music girl, so I'll be doing this from time to time. 
> 
> **Next update is next Monday!

**The Human Soul on Fire**

_Chapter 11- Changeling_

[ _“_ _Littleroot Town_ _” by Hyper Potions_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV3w2PZn8z4)

 

“This feels like a really inappropriate time to make a joke, but I really don’t know how else to get you guys to react,” Taz said into the oppressive silence surrounding her on all sides. She was trying— _really trying_ —not to be flippant, because this was a big deal, but the guys weren’t making it easy on her.

And humor was the only defense she knew against… this. This uncomfortable, heated but somehow still icy quiet.

Taz didn’t do well with quiet.

And she really didn’t want to be mad, as she had planned to tell them everything once they were all together anyway. But this silence… it was somehow deafening, pressing in on her at every point on her body: crushing her.

She started to feel a fire burning from their lack of reaction, despite being the ones to break her trust. At least give her something to go on, something to refute!

“Someone please ask me to explain, because it feels weird to just launch into my entire personal history unprompted.”

More humor. Someone please chuckle.

No chuckles, but someone did take her bait. Surprisingly, it was Error.

“Explain.”

It sounded like he had mean to follow the command by calling Taz “human,” but that didn’t feel warranted anymore. Or applicable.

She took a deep breath.

“So I’m only half monster,” she began, which was already an impossible statement. Black spoke up to say as much.

“Let her explain, broseph.” Another surprise: Fresh was coming to defend her now. What kind of backwards reality had they now found themselves in that the two most frustrating, least understanding members of the lodge were being the most patient?

Taz shot him a weary smile, becoming smaller and smaller by the minute despite her initial display of confidence, “So my mom is a monster and my dad is a human. So I’m half.”

An easy enough summation of her supposed genealogy, but that still didn’t make it possible. Monsters and humans just don’t have… compatible anatomy. And that was putting it mildly, saying nothing of the complex nature of their differing morphogenic nuances.

“If you’re expecting us to believe a human man boned a monster lady and made a baby, we’re gonna need some proof, baby girl,” Pink broke the silence next, “Preferably with video evidence.”

Taz laughed a little, “Sorry to have to disappoint, but I’m all the physical proof I can provide.”

No one spoke up again and Taz twitched, frustration growing: burning fire turning to a scalding, ferocious bonfire of indignation. They’d gone through all this effort and hadn’t even been prepared with questions for her? Was this a joke to them?

Mutt captured her attention, meeting the cold fury mounting behind her eyes evenly.

“kitten, i hate to split this case wide open, but there’s another problem here,” Mutt spoke, purple smoke spilling over his teeth and coiling thickly around his skull, “you were born _before_ monsters came to the surface; you said so yourself during m’lord’s challenge. unless you were _lying_ , that is.”

At the mention of implied punishment, Black reeled himself in from his childish pouting about the new landlady not being as she’d appeared.

“THAT’S RIGHT!” he cried, finger pointed at Taz, who flinched slightly at his voice and tried to turn so her delicate silver SOUL wasn’t in his direct path, “IF YOU LIED, THAT MEANS YOU FAILED MY CHALLENGE.”

“I didn’t lie!” Taz returned, sounding more emotional than usual, fire burning itself down to little more than ashes—blazing prematurely and petering out before she could even really make it matter.

Her SOUL was bobbing erratically in the air and her eyes were starting to brim with tears, hot despite the dissipating embers within her.

“sweetheart, come here,” Sans coaxed her to sit beside him on the couch, then, after silently asking permission with his eyes, refusing to touch her now without consulting her, he ushered her SOUL back into her chest. Taz’s breathing levelled and that underlying glint of humor returned to her eyes, “better.”

It wasn’t phrased as a question, which made Sans realize that this was the way he preferred to see her. It was better to see her with mischief just barely contained under her surface and smiling at him. What had he thought he was doing, violating her privacy as he had and thinking he was justified in doing so?

He’d make it up to her, if she let him. And, needless to say, he _had_ to make it up to her.

She nodded regardless, as though he’d been asking her if she was better, and thanked him.

He deserved much worse than just feeling bad—feeling like he needed to atone. He deserved her anger. But, selfishly, he was still grateful for her smile.

“Sorry, I’m not used to SOUL fuckery,” Taz apologized, but sounding much more like herself. Like they all hadn’t just betrayed the most basic, the most private, kind of trust possible with her, “Anyway, I’m not lying. As inconvenient as the truth is: not all monsters were trapped under the mountain.”

“bullshit.”

That was Axe. His brother, despite looking anxious from everyone’s raised voices, fretting his gloves together at a frantic pace, still managed to scold him for his rudeness.

“No, really. Black, back me up here,” she persisted, turning back to the small, scowling skeleton. He looked perturbed, caught off guard by her calling him to action, and then enraged that she wanted him to help defend herself.

“AND WHY WOULD I DO THAT?”

“the myths.”

All eyes turned questioningly to Sans, so he elaborated.

“the human myths on monsters you’ve been reading. did they pre-date monsters being exiled, or did they come after?” Sans asked. Black shifted in irritation at being put on the spot when he hadn’t asked for it, crossing and uncrossing his arms several times before huffing.

“I CAN’T REMEMBER,” he said, causing Axe to chuckle.

“that’s also bullshit.”

“SILENCE, WORM!” Black yelled, stomping his foot and seething, “I DON’T HAVE TO TAKE ANYTHING FROM A DIRTY—”

“alright, that’s enough,” Sans stepped back in, “black, _just go get_ the books you were reading from the library.”

“don’t worry, i’m on it,” Rus said before teleporting away. Everyone sat in apprehensive silence as they awaited his return.

After a moment, Sans felt something cover his hand; turning to face Taz, he found her holding his hand in hers, her face shining in gratitude and her smile small but thankful. Like it was a secret just for him, because he believed her.

Shit. He really did believe her, didn’t he?

Well, he damn well better after what he’d put her through; honestly, he owed her a lot more. And he’d started with an explanation—no, an apology. There was no explaining his paranoia: there was only trying to move past it, and make up for the harm he’d done.

But maybe he’d wait until they were alone for that.

When Rus eventually returned with a mountain of books and everyone tore into them for draft dates, Taz released him. Sans clenched his fist before helping in the search, feeling much colder in her absence.

The work was slow going, especially considering most of the works had been republished at some point in history and Black insisted thusly that they couldn’t be used as a credible source. And then another wrinkle appeared when Jaws innocently posited the possibility that humans could have simply remembered monsters after their exile and continued to recount those memories until they became myth and folklore.

Which could, of course, also disprove the draft date as evidence. Black had run with the idea and testified that this possibility would nullify _any_ evidence they found.

Taz had had to move to sit beside the tearful Jaws when he had cried that he didn’t mean to make it harder on her.

Eventually Ink left, dragging Fresh along to help carry dinner in from the dining area, since it was looking like they’d be here for a while. Finally, following a nearly complete meal of rolls, stew, and a vast assortment of monster food oddities—with Taz pointedly ignoring the salad—Rus called for everyone’s attention and presented the book he was currently sorting through.

“this one should appease you,” he prefaced, staring Black down but less than subtly implying he meant everyone who’d challenged Taz so far, “this is from the mid-nineteenth century—more than a century and a half after monsters were exiled—and describes monsters not previously referenced by other folk myth. it’s completely original and has empirical evidence notated throughout.”

“LET ME SEE THAT,” Black said, snatching the book from Rus, who happily gave it up before collapsing onto his discard pile. It didn’t look terribly comfortable but he started snoring softly after a moment nevertheless. After some impatiently fast skimming, Black diverted his eyes from the pages and tossed the book to his brother. Mutt caught it effortlessly and took a bit more time in perusing it than his brother had; eventually he too admitted defeat, but at least he wasn’t pouting like Black.

“he’s right.”

So some monsters truly hadn’t been forced under the mountain? Some had managed to escape the humans hunting them and survived?

It was a thought, a possibility, none of them had truly ever considered, but it made quite a bit of sense. Not only did it give credence to common human myths like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, but, logistically speaking, it made the entire exile seem more plausible. It was still ethically— _morally_ —wrong; but this new information at least explained how the humans were even _able_ to do so.

“So Black,” Taz spoke, grabbing his attention, “What do you know about changelings?”

The word hung in the air a moment before Black began to grumpily sort through the pile of books—only pausing to shove Rus away so he could pull out a few errant tomes from under the other skeleton. Rus merely rolled over to lay his head against Taz’s legs and apparently went back to sleep.

“A CHANGELING IS A MYTHICAL CREATURE FOUND IN FOLKLORE—”

“yeah, that’s obvious,” Axe interrupted a third time, but just to annoy Black now. Taz was sitting between him and Jaws and he’d been watching her curiously during their entire search; in spite of his sarcasm, he truly wanted to know.

“I KNOW, I’M JUST READING WHAT IT SAYS,” Blacked seethed before returning to the book, “A TYPE OF FAIRY, A CHANGELING CHILD OFTEN IS LEFT IN PLACE OF A HUMAN BABY TO BE RAISED IN ITS STEAD BY THE UNWITTING PARENTS.” And then he set the book back down, glaring at Taz expectantly.

“What, is that really all it says?” she asked, sounding aghast. Black simply nodded. “Well geez, it’s no wonder why uncle Chives never got anywhere on his theory. He was using the shittiest research material possible.”

“Ok, unpack that statement for the rest of us, angel,” G sighed from his spot leaning against the wall behind her. Taz craned her neck backward to look at him, her gray slouchy beanie slipping from her head but her hands remaining still, clasped together innocently in her lap, and making no effort to retrieve it from the floor.

“It’ll be easier if I show you, yeah?”

Before Sans could warn against a physical showing of her monsterness when everyone was already so keyed up, Taz was morphing before them.

Where her hair had once been blonde with faded pink accents, it was saturating into a vibrant, radiant red; and it was shortening, shooting back up past her shoulders to chin-length, as though she’s sucked her hair back into her scalp through the roots. Her eyes, usually a bit on the muddier side of hazel, clouded as though she were blind, before returning as blue and clear as a stream. And her pale skin somehow became even lighter, and translucent like wet paper—little, minute veins crisscrossing her temples, just barely visible under the surface of her skin. Freckles bloomed across her nose, popping into life and darkening under the lower lids of her now almond-shaped eyes and less-full cheeks.

It was as though another person had jumped into Taz’s clothes and taken her place right before them.

“Ow,” a voice still like Taz’s complained despite being several notes higher in pitch. She tugged at her facial piercings as her entire form appeared to shrink, cutting several inches from her height despite remaining seated on the floor between Axe and Jaws, “These don’t fit properly now. I think I overdid it a it a little.”

No one said anything for just long enough for this new person to glance over them all, a smile on her full, red lips.

“MISS TAZ?” Jaws asked timidly, his hands held together protectively before his chest. She looked over to him, shifting to sit cross-legged when Rus lifted his head so he could take in her new appearance better.

“It’s still me, don’t worry,” she said with a much wider smile. And mischief in her eyes.

It really _was_ her.

“so is this some kind of magic?” Axe asked from her other side and she swiveled back around, finger on her chin in thought.

“Well, kind of? I can’t do _magic_ magic like you guys—I don’t have enough monster in me for that. This is basically just a parlor trick in comparison,” Taz said, still deep in thought, “And even then, my sister can do _way_ more than I can.”

“WAIT, IS MISS ANISE HALF MONSTER AS WELL?” Tango spoke up for the first time in a while. Taz shook her head, red curls flopping around and getting caught on her overly long eyelashes.

“No, she’s full changeling.”

“wait wait wait wait,” Red interrupted from his spot on the floor at the foot of the couch, “ain’t that what ya called taz earlier?”

“YES!” Tango answered simply, not realizing that was an unhelpfully short answer. Red made a noise of even greater confusion.

“so why are ya talkin’ about her like she’s another person?”

“SHE IS!” Tango replied, still not understanding. Red covered his face with a pillow and screamed into it.

“sweetheart, you’d better just tell us the whole story,” Sans stepped in, talking over Red’s muffled yelling, “and… please switch back.”

Oh! He meant to change back to how she looked before. That was kind of sweet; and Taz was more than happy to oblige. Her ill-fitting piercings were really starting to make her face sore. G handed her the abandoned beanie from the floor, and, upon replacing it on her head as she shifted back, the Taz they’d come to know over the course of the day was returned to them.

“much better, honey,” Rus said, laying his head back down, this time on her lap.

“So, if we’ve got any after-dinner dessert, now would be a good time to crack it open,” Taz said with a lethargic sigh before leaning against a nervous but pleasantly surprised Jaws, “I don’t promise quality storytelling, but it _is_ long and sad.”

There was a double-chocolate chip cookie and glass of milk in her hands before she even noticed Ink teleporting back to the kitchen. He grinned benignly at her before settling in beside Fresh, Paps, and Blue like she was telling them a bedtime story.

“Anyway,” Taz said through a mouth full of cookie, “As all good stories do, mine begins with two lovesick morons.”

Charlie, Taz’s dad, had decided to take a vacation to Ireland following graduating with an engineering degree from CSU. He had said he was going to experience some of the world’s culture before being holed up in a loud machining shop for the rest of his life—

“sounds like a real nerd,” Red interjected.

—but all his friends, and his younger brother Herb, knew he was going in pursuit of good beer and even better-looking girls.

“oh,” Red said, looking embarrassed.

“DID HERBERT GO WITH YOUR DAD?” Blue asked, chomping down on his fourth cookie, knowing he could get away with over-indulging on sweets with Rus so distracted.

“Not really his scene,” Taz replied and Pink snickered.

“You must be talking about the girls. Cause Herbie could drink even Red under a table,” he said, and the other made a noise like he was experiencing intense hangover pains through sheer force of memory.

Taz sighed quietly, then added in a small voice, “He… wasn’t always that heavy of a drinker.”

Ah. She meant before they all got here.

No one interrupted her further.

So Charlie had landed in Ireland about mid-day and immediately headed to a pub; he may have told Taz its name a long time ago, but with how much he actually remembered from that first night, she figured he’d made it up and that it wasn’t worth remembering. He’d befriended a couple of loud, broad-shouldered farmhand-type men and they’d hopped from bar to bar all night. Charlie was having so much fun that he’d completely forgotten the other part to his two-step plan. But as it was, fate had already taken care of him.

Eventually, after nearly eight straight hours of drinking, the merry group had wound up in the countryside. Somewhere. Charlie wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to find his way there again without help. He’d wandered off from the others to find a tree to piss against when… _something_ caught his eye.

Something shimmery. And beautiful.

So he followed it deeper into the copse of dark trees.

“rookie mistake,” Rus chuckled, the feeling of it tickling Taz’s legs. She flipped his hood over his face and gave him a wry look.

“Obviously he survived, since I’m here.”

“That’s not exactly necessary,” Jazz cooed, sprawled out in front of the roaring fireplace—when had someone lit it?—like some sort of horrible softcore porn film cliché. He winked when Taz looked at him quizzically, “They could have disposed of him after… _using_ him.”

“why don’t you just tell us what happened next, sweetheart?” Sans stopped that line of conversation before Papyrus or Blue asked uncomfortable questions.

So Charles had pushed farther into the dark, following that curious tiny glow like a child chases a firefly. He walked much farther than should have been possible from the size of the copse, but not once did he break through the other side. Rather, his slipping, stumbling footsteps eventually brought him before a magnificent, graceful tree of pink petal-like leaves and twisting vines. It was as though someone had uprooted a Japanese Cherry Blossom and brought it to the quiet rolling hills of the Irish countryside; and apparently kept it alive—and thriving—through some type of botanic sorcery. Indeed, the tree was several times larger than any other cherry blossom: with branches more twisted and gnarled, but almost elegantly so.

“WE GET THE POINT,” Black stopped her, earning glares from Taz’s captive audience of Ink, Fresh, Paps, and Blue.

“And I was just getting to the best part too. But if you’ve heard enough then…” she trailed off, teasing Black for his ill-guarded intrigue at her statement. He huffed and closed his eyes.

“YOU MAY CONTINUE.”

What’s more than this impressive tree was the impressive _aura_ surrounding it. It felt very nearly alive: like the presence one feels from another in a dark room despite not being able to see. The shaking of its leaves, rustling in the nonexistent breeze, was like breathing. The twinkle of moonlight against the dark green sheen of its bark almost like a smile. And there was a haze hanging all about the clearing it was set in, shifting and sparkling and circling the tree as though it was exerting its own gravity.

Charlie had never seen anything so inherently magical before. Something so intrinsically beautiful. And, though many had come to this glade before, he alone would be the sole human to remember it upon leaving.

And it was all because of Ailsa, the very one to have led him here.

“That’s my mom, just to be clear,” Taz added, breaking the dreamy nature of her story and smacking them all awake again. But she settled in again and continued in her serene voice, pacing slow and enchanting.

Ailsa was one of the youngest changelings of the glade; she’d been born and grew into adulthood here, the elders of their community not ever able to find a suitable human family with a young enough child for her to replace before she grew. And so she had always been curious of the world she’d never get to see. She’d made a bit of a habit in luring unsuspecting humans to the fairy glade, hoping to grasp some kind of meaning from watching them. Hopeful she might be allowed to take an adult’s place, although unheard of, as she had been denied the same right all her cousins took for granted as children.

All changelings return to their home glade after growing old enough and gaining enough useful information about the human world. What a waste. What a useless tossing aside of a gift she’d never had—would never have.

Ailsa knew, if she ever got the chance, she’d never return home. She’d explore forever, with no ties to anyone but herself.

But that obviously didn’t go as planned: Because she fell in love that night.

“you sure this is the story of how you were born and not some dime-store fairy tale romance novel?” Axe spoke up with a roll of his eyes. Taz turned to him with a giggle, despite his brashness.

“Oh it’s definitely that too,” she said, “The way my parents tell it, they just _knew_ once they actually locked eyes. But honestly, they were just two lonely, attractive people and dad was seven pints to the wind. It’s much less _destined_ and _prophesized_ than they made it sound, I’m sure. They were both pretty and available, simple as that.”

“not much of a romantic, honey?”

“Hmm? Oh, me? Sure I am,” Taz replied to Rus, “But if you knew my parents you’d call them on their bullshit too. Neither of them was in love at that point.”

“BUT I THOUGHT YOU SAID THIS WAS A TALE OF TRUE LOVE?” Papyrus asked, eyes wide and tearful at Taz’s irreverence. She smiled, maybe a little sadly.

“Well they _did_ learn to love one another. Eventually.” And then her smile morphed with mirth, “But at first mom was just looking for an easy out and dad was hunting down someone to bone.”

Taz continued her story over the crass giggling of Pink and Jazz saying that there wasn’t anything wrong with that.

So Ailsa had brought Charlie to the glade just as the others had been performing the ritual to usher another into their ranks.

“Basically a changeling birthing ceremony,” Taz explained, making light of the complex magics needed to create a new monster life.

They’d arrived just as the baby was beginning to form, nestled protectively inside a small hole in the center of the tree’s trunk. It was then that the magic surrounding the fairy tree came together, the fog in the glade coalescing into a bright, silvery-white SOUL: hanging in the air before the baby, appearing all too large but obviously belonging to it nonetheless.

The entire assembled mass, all thirty-plus changelings who called this tree their home, waited silently while the SOUL sought out its parent. They had all, together, created the child—it was of them all collectively, and of their magic. But now the SOUL would determine who specifically should raise it until it was placed with a human family. A beam of light, blinding in its intensity but soft and warm in feeling, radiated from the new SOUL. It scanned the entire crowd, including the awestruck human now drawing glances—some curious, some disgusted—from the others.

And then the SOUL chose.

First it shown on Ailsa, who floundered desperately to wash its glow from her even as it began to mix with her own. She didn’t want a child. She didn’t want to raise another. She didn’t want, _never wanted_ , another anchor cementing her forever to this glade.

But then the SOUL found another. And instead of releasing Ailsa, it instead bound all three of them together as one: the child, the parent—

And the human.

“OH, HOW BEAUTIFUL!” Papyrus sniffled through his tears. Ink offered him his scarf to dry his eyes.

Once a SOUL chooses, there’s no dissuading it. So, as unprepared—and unwilling—as both Ailsa and Charlie were, they were now tied _forever_ to this child.

Oh to be a fly on the wall during the ensuing fight! The elders, Ailsa’s mother included, had gone so insane with fury that they nearly cast her from their home—if only they had known of her elation at the prospect! And they very well would have, if not for the squalling of the new baby. Large like a human infant, the new changeling child cried and cried, throwing her fists everywhere she could in anguish. The reason changeling children are given to human families at all is because of their size; until they can manage their magic and shrink to their pixie-state, they’re a huge burden on the rest of the glade.

But even more daunting than its size: the baby’s shrieks were the mightiest that had ever been heard. Ever greater than Ailsa’s wails of grief from being trapped here all her years.

But then… silence.

The human had lifted the baby from her nest within the tree, hands steady despite his blood alcohol content being high enough that he could take in this entire scene without questioning it, and began to rock the child to sleep. But it was only when Ailsa approached, guided forward by the loathsome stares of the others, and set her tiny hands on the little girl’s forehead that she finally calmed and fell asleep.

So it was decided in that moment: The human would have to remain, at least until the child had been placed in a home. And Ailsa would have to stay as well.

But, as she stared down into the baby’s face, the child that had chosen her, she felt her fury, her despair, her misgivings all slipping away.

She was in love.

She took human form, though still slight in comparison to Charlie, and finally spoke to him.

“ _So, I suppose I should tell you my name, before I destroy your entire concept of the world_ ,” Taz recited, with a small smile, as though she’d heard her parents say that very line a million times in her youth. A fond memory. “Mom was always really direct like that. Not exactly the _dreamiest_ first words to say to your future husband, but she was always honest and upfront.”

“WHAT A WONDERFUL STORY!” Blue cried, forgetting he was supposed to be determining its validity and Taz’s relation to it all.

“So, needless to say, they didn’t find a human family to give the child to. They raised her themselves, at first in the glade and then in the greater human world once things began to change and the other fairies’ opinions shifted.”

“So when did you come here?” Ink asked, so caught up in the story that he was shaking. Taz tilted her head inquisitively. And there was a twinkle in her hazel eyes.

“Oh, I was born here,” she said simply. Ink stopped vibrating, his expression as though she’d slapped him.

“But I thought—”

“UGH, IT’S JUST MORE OF HER LIES!” Black growled, angry to have been taken in her by her words so completely. This time Taz merely giggled before refuting him, saying that she was still telling the truth.

“you meant your sister.”

She turned again to Axe, who was watching her in that same close manner, eyelights scanning her face for any trace of hidden intentions or masked truths. She just beamed.

“right?”

“Yeah, you got it,” Taz said with a nod, “I was born—eh, _conceived_ —the _normal_ _way_. My sister Anniston was the baby from the story—the one that actually got my parents to come together. I was just the one that… happened once they realized they loved one another, years later.”

“But it was such a good backstory before you ruined it,” Ink sulked quietly to himself, barely noticed by any of the others. Taz acted as though she hadn’t heard.

“SO THAT’S WHY MISS ANISE ISN’T PART HUMAN!” Tango said, pointing a finger in thought. Remix looked back to Taz.

“but you said you and Anniston are twins,” he probed, tone not exactly accusing. Just curious.

He wouldn’t dare call her story into question after the part he’d had to play in initially exposing her before she was ready.

“It’s easier than the truth, isn’t it?” Taz shrugged, leaning back on the palms of her hands and inadvertently nudging G’s left boot, “I mean, if you want to be _really_ accurate about it, we’re closer to being clones. All changelings are; it’s just part of how we’re born. You wouldn’t be able to tell mom and Anniston apart at all in their ‘true’ forms.”

“this is too fuckin’ weird,” Red sighed, slouching so far down the side of the couch that his neck crinkled into an incredibly sharp, uncomfortable angle, “let’s just agree to believe her, it’s too ridiculous of a story ta just make up. and it’s not like she can fake a SOUL.”

There was a buzzing silence that followed this statement as the truth of it sunk in. It did kind of seem crazy to doubt her now, after everything. After all they’d done to hurt her.

What broke the silence was the sounding of Herb’s favorite grandfather clock. Taz froze completely, counting the chimes: eleven o’clock. She shot up, not meaning to hurt Rus but unintentionally sending him tumbling in her haste.

“Hey, real glad that’s settled and all, but I’ve got something I gotta go do,” she said, tone nearly replicating calmness but a note of frantic worry poking through the cracks, “Alone.”

“AS IF WE’D LET THE HUMAN-MOSNTER ABOMINATION GO ANYWHERE ON THE PREMISES ALONE,” Edge spoke for the first time all evening, with enough vitriol behind his words to indicate he’d been waiting for the most cutting moment. She flinched a little, but not in anger.

“Well sure, but I’ve got some human-monster abomination stuff to take care of. Real nasty. You wouldn’t want to have to be there,” Taz said, trying to sound like she was joking but rather obviously hurt. She only looked angry at herself for being so transparent, wringing the strap of her lumpy crossbody bag in one hand and grasping at something large inside it with the other.

“tazer, he didn’t mean it,” Remix started to say, not fully defending Edge but rather trying to imply that they didn’t share the sentiment; he stood, holding his hands placatingly before him.

“DON’T PUT WORDS IN MY MOUTH, CRETIN,” Edge scowled, doubling down on his harshness, “YOUR DISGRACEFUL ATTRACTION TO THE CREATURE DOESN’T CHANGE ANYTHING.”

“hey!”

“Alright, why don’t you guys just stay here yelling at each other and I’ll be back in an hour?” Taz was desperately trying to keep any emotion aside from humor out of her voice, slowly moving for the door to the foyer, “And then we can have a nice long chat about me, my monster-human grossness, and then how you’re all _literally the same two people_.”

She used the shock of her statement as cover, making a mad dash for the door and hurtling herself into the hallway. They heard her wrench open the front door, slamming back against the wall on its hinges, and then the roar of her car’s engine before it shut again.

Only then did Sans speak, glaring at Edge with a chill that seeped into the air around them, freezing their breath and hearts.

“let her do what she needs to, and if— _if_ —she decides to come back: you _will_ apologize. or you’ll be the one leaving.”

 

* * *

 

 

It wasn’t hard to locate Taz; all Remix had to do was follow the tire tracks of her car. And then, once he was close enough, the sound of her stereo. She’d hadn’t gone far.

He found her, sitting on the hood of her car, overlooking the lodge’s playground. Her head was slumped back against the windshield, moon reflecting off the sleek, polished surface of the car’s roof and in her large, glassy eyes.

Remix tried to approach her so she’d hear; her music was quiet enough, for once, that she actually could have. Still, she didn’t notice he was there until he was almost right next to her.

“Oh, hey Sansy—Remix,” she corrected herself, which was like a thin needle of ice piercing his SOUL, “You found me.”

“you doing ok, ta—”

“Hey you know, I was just thinking about something you would appreciate,” she interrupted, surreptitiously rubbing at her eyes with the sleeve of her cardigan while she scooted over to let him up. Remix, deciding not to ask again if she wasn’t ready to talk about it, silently joined her on the hood of the car.

“lay it on me, tazer.”

She sighed so briefly he nearly missed it. “Anyway, I was just thinking about the different kinds of bass, right?”

“bass? you mean like…” he trailed off, throwing a thumb toward the inside of the car. The windows were rolled down so her music could trickle out.

“Yeah, like _music_ bass,” she clarified, “Cause there are different types, you know? Hit you—effect you—in different spots.”

Remix wasn’t really following, but he was glad to have her focusing on something that made her happy. So he made an unsure but curious noise. Her eyes regained a bit of their shine.

“Ok, so bass is really adaptive and it can target different parts of your body depending on certain things. Here, let me show you,” she rushed, pulling out her phone from the bag sat in her lap. Remix saw a glimpse of an odd cedar box inside before she moved the flap back to cover it again. She pulled up an app—

“really, tazer? youtube music?”

“It’s got all the best indie stuff!”

—and queued a song. She remotely turned the volume on her stereo all the way up, and suddenly the clearing was [echoing with sound](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fiu8ZYNPAcg).

“aw you have a shitty trap remix of ‘redbone?’ that’s awful, sweetheart,” Remixed chided her goodnaturedly as he recognized the Childish Gambino song.

“Hey, it’s a good remix! And it’s _technically_ bounce, not just trap,” she laughed despite sticking her tongue out at him, “Anyway. This one you can feel in your temples. It’s like a massage: a soft kind of rolling pressure.”

She closed her eyes, some of the tension on her face evaporating away as her smile turned tranquil. Despite knowing he couldn’t feel it like she could, Remix closed his eyes too and relaxed against the windshield. Everything was almost peaceful for a moment, before Taz shuddered next to him and huffed in frustration.

“It’s harder when the speakers are in there and we’re out here,” she sighed.

“do you wanna sit in the car?” he asked, despite part of his brain warning him against it. What if the music changed and she started dancing, like he knew she did? It might look bad for him to be seen in an enclosed car with her, right before the entire thing started jostling from side to side.

…But did he really care that much?

Taz cut across his thoughts, shaking her head, “No, no I’d rather be out here.” Then an idea crossed her face, and she was changing the music mid-song, “Here, let’s try something else.”

[An instrumental song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5C_gihwrqc) came on that Remix couldn’t place. It was much more upbeat, so he hoped it brought her cheerfulness back as well.

“So with this one, you feel it in your stomach,” Taz said, sitting upright still, “These are my favorite ones: how the bass rumbles around in your gut. Like when you’re hungry. But the best kind of hungry!”

Remix chuckled at her hurry, her tone getting a little more manic like it does when she’s too excited. Like she can’t wait to finish what she’s saying. The grin on his skull faded a little when she faltered, clutching her phone to her stomach and bending over it, trying to squeeze the feeling she was talking about from it even though no sound was coming from the phone itself. He didn’t like the look of desperation in her eyes as she pushed it harder against herself.

“It’s like the kind of hunger pangs you get when you’ve really exerted yourself. But they don’t hurt, they just kind of roar all throughout you. It’s like your body’s telling you that you did a good job, and now you can enjoy that sense of pride and take some time for yourself…”

Her hands were trembling.

“can’t say i’ve experienced that myself, tazer,” Remix said quietly. She looked over like she’d just woken up, surprised to see him, “i lack the… requisite organs.”

She snorted in amusement. Success.

“Ok, smartass. Well let’s try this one instead,” she gave him a wry look, but let the song end before changing it to [something much more familiar](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QGvt7QgTuQ).

“just regular old mystery skulls? you sure you don’t have some embarrassing, trashy remix you want to play instead?” he teased and she pushed his shoulder, holding on to the fabric of his hoodie and making him stare into her face.

“Sometimes you just can’t beat the original,” she said before releasing him and adding added in an undertone, “But I do have some remixes too.”

“i know you do, sweetheart. so tell me about this one.”

Taz nodded enthusiastically, her energy returning despite a bit of a glow on her cheeks, “So this one I know you can feel. Wait for it.”

Almost as if she planned it, Remix felt the hood of the car start to vibrate and rumble. Taz planted her palms on it firmly, completely flat against the surface so she could feel its full force. Well, her right hand anyway. Her left was covering Remix’s.

He pulled up his hood to hide his face as Taz described the sensation.

“So with this one the bass moves through objects more than it does your body. But then you can feel it in your feet through the floor, or your hands against the steering wheel, and it kind of surrounds you,” she said, eyes closed again, “And sometimes it’ll rattle stuff around—like the spare change in the ash tray—and that becomes part of the music too.”

Remix peeked out from his hood, watching the smile creeping up one side of her mouth, parted slightly as though she had more to say. She always seemed to have more to say, and he never didn’t want to listen.

Something stirred in Remix, but it had nothing to do with the bass clattering around them.

The song ended.

“So I know you felt that, right?” Taz asked, opening her eyes and looking toward him. Remix lost his voice instantly, having to stutter out a response.

“wh-what?”

Taz giggled, “The bass, silly. What else have we been talking about? I know you could feel it because there weren’t any _organs_ needed other than your bones, bonehead.”

He sighed in relief, chuckling a little at her pun, “yeah, i felt it.”

She turned back to her phone, using her right hand to select another song. Remix couldn’t decide if he wished she’d used her other hand; if he could sweat, he’d surely be doing so under the warm pressure of her palm on his phalanges. It wasn’t that she was too warm, it was just that—

[Another song started](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WekAMx-NXt8).

“Of course, the most common type is the kind that hits you in your heart,” Taz said, before cocking an eyebrow at him, “And I know you can’t feel that, so just take my word for it.”

Remix simply nodded and Taz turned to look over the playground. In the dark like this, it looked like a faraway city. Crumbling under its own weight. Crumbling from the ravages of time.

It hadn’t ever been all that structurally sound, but still… Time had not been kind to it.

Taz inhaled sharply, like she meant to say more and thought better of it. After a moment she began again, “These songs… always kind of hurt to play too loud, because they… you know…”

She didn’t need to say it.

“They kind of feel… like a heart attack.”

She didn’t need to say more.

“But I still play them too loud, and I think to myself…”

She didn’t need to explain it to him.

“I think to myself: if this is a heart attack, even though it hurts, at least I can still hear music while it happens.”

Her hand was clasped fully, protectively, in his own a mere moment before her tears fell.

“tazer…”

He didn’t know what else to say. She just cried and cried, like she’d been holding it in for days and now she didn’t know how to stop.

“tazer, you don’t have to hide like that,” he said when she shoved her face into the crook of her other arm. She let him turn her chin toward him, wiping at her face with chilly, skeletal fingers, “you don’t have to hide any of this from us.”

“I-I’m really not tr- _trying_ to,” Taz implored him to understand despite grasping at straws herself, “I just-I just don’t—”

“know how to express it,” he finished her thought as even more huge, hot tears poured from her eyes and she fought to blink them away. She nodded at him, squeezing his hand back to make herself clear.

“It-it’s so silly,” she choked on a tiny laugh as her sobbing started to slow, “I understand how others feel so well, know just how they’ll react to me; and yet I have no idea how to talk about my own feelings.”

Remix made a strangled noise. Yeah, that was something they still needed to discuss with her, but it could wait for now.

“i know, tazer,” he responded, despite not _really_ knowing. It just seemed like the thing to say.

But maybe he’d done something wrong, because Taz was sobbing once again, clinging to him with an urgency, a terrible concern, he hadn’t expected.

“Can I-can I even—” she tried to speak, her whole body shaking at her sudden misery. Remix wiped uselessly at her face, trying to stem her flow of tears, watching something truly pathetic flicker through her eyes before she finally found her voice, “Can I even still _call_ you Sansy? And Papy…”

Remix felt the most amazing mixture of elation and pain. What a deceptive question. He wished the answer was as easy.

“Because you’re-you’re _my_ Sans and Papyrus.”

That did it. He’d give anything, weather any fight that might come, if it meant she would continue to call him by his real name.

“sweetheart, you can call me whatever you want. just promise me you’re going to stay here.”

And then she was flinging her arms around his neck, his hands against her back, as she tried to stifle her sobs. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t answer him, but she was nodding her head so quickly Remix was worried she’d give herself a headache. A few minutes later, she pulled back.

“so what did you need to do out at the playground at 11:45 at night?”

Taz sighed, hiccupped one last time, and withdrew the cedar box from her bag. Remix understood once he’d read the words burned into the top of the box: Herbert Darren Haft, 03/28/60 to 03/19/18.

Today was March twenty-eighth. She wanted to spread his ashes on his birthday.

Well, what would have been his birthday. _Should_ have been his birthday.

“I wanted to do this at the lake, but I can’t—” Her hands were still shaking horribly. She hadn’t been able to drive there despite it being not even a mile away.

“i can shortcut us there, sweetheart,” Remix offered, holding her hand tighter in preparation. But she shook her head, running her fingers over the case.

“No, it’s ok. Thank you, though,” she said softly, glancing up toward the playground, “I think this is actually a good place.”

She slid off the hood, releasing his hand as she went; he let her go, allowing her privacy if she wanted to say any words. But as it was, she simply pushed back the lid, undid the sealed bag inside, and tossed her uncle’s ashes into the calm early spring air in one long arc. They settled on the ground, in the bushes and trees, and were carried farther on by the gentle breeze. Taz nodded once, content with it all, and remained still as she listened for the breaking of the waves on the nearby lake.

She could just barely hear them.

That would do.

The silence was broken by Tango, calling out to her from the lounge’s outdoor patio, “MISS ANISE?”

“Yes Papy?” she replied, throat sounding a little constricted still but beaming when she could see the orange glow of his blush in the darkness of the night.

“RUS IS ASKING FOR YOU. I BELIEVE HE SAID SOME NONSENSE ABOUT GETTING… SNOCKERED?”

Taz jumped right into action, shoving the now empty box into her bag, “Ooh, now I got him! That’s straight 50s slang!”

She started to run off, leaving her car running. Remix just laughed quietly to himself, retrieving her keys and closing the windows. As he was pulling himself back out of her car, Taz ran back out onto the patio, waving at him.

 “C’mon, Sansy! We’re in here gettin’ all kinds of pickled, loaded, and canned: even if Rus doesn’t know that those are the right 20s ways to say it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And please remember to go check out Sanuit_2526's story [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16251485/chapters/37996310)! They just put up chapter 4 and it hints at secrets to come in absolute S P A D E S. I love it!  
> Also, JoMcIntosh has a great swap!Paps story [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14592375/chapters/33723786) that I recommend checking out! He's a super asshole at first, but watching his walls slowly crumble makes for a fun read.
> 
> As always, if you've got a story you're working on, drop me a comment to let me know! I'm always looking for new stories to read.


	12. Spring: Cabins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello dears!! Thanks for coming back to check out chapter 12! Usually this is the mark in a fic when I start losing interest and go on near-permanent hiatus, but this one is still going super strong, and I'm so excited about that. Writing each chapter makes me incredibly happy, and it brightens my day when I can brighten yours too! <3
> 
> I appreciate everyone's reactions to Taz's backstory/lineage from last chapter. I was a little worried, but I'm glad people seem to be responding positively! I think it'll add that little extra more to the narrative. This chapter is a bit of setup for future stuff, but I try to keep it fun. :) Next week's chapter is one I'm super super excited for, because I'll be introducing characters from an original AU I made up! And if you haven't yet, now is a great time to check out my [tumblr](https://alien-ariel7.tumblr.com/), because I'll be posting some supplementary stuff for the AU next week.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy! I love you guys and appreciate you every day! <3
> 
> **Update next Sunday, since I can't post anything on tumblr on 12/17 due to the NSFW ban protest

**The Human Soul on Fire**

_Chapter 12- Cabins_

 

While it wasn’t unheard of for Taz to wake around mid-afternoon, it also wasn’t unusual for her to rise with the sun as well; it just depended on her mood. But there really wasn’t any in-between.

That said, it was still atypical for her to rise around 6 A.M. the morning after she arrived at her uncle’s— _her_ —hotel; with how drunk she’d gotten after spreading Herb’s ashes she surely should have slept til one or two o’clock.

Maybe her body had just had enough of laying on the hard stone tiles of the backbar.

Extricating herself from the shelf Rus, Remix, Red, and Comet had drunk her under last night, Taz noticed she was indeed the first awake.

Not terribly surprising. She felt she’d probably still be asleep too if her body had allowed it.

Rus was stretched out across a couch and a half, being much too tall for a single loveseat; his knees were arched over the joined armrests so his legs and feet could rest on the other side.

Comet, meanwhile, looked completely comfortable on top of the bar, curled around the taps like he did it all the time. His ability to nap anywhere and everywhere, at any time, was incredibly impressive.

And Red was just passed out, head down on the bar top, in the same chair he’d spent all night drinking in.

But where was—

“hey tazer,” Remix answered as though Taz has actually called him. Turning around to the dining potion of the lounge, she found him propped up at a booth with some coffee.

“Is that for me?” she asked, pointing hopefully toward a second cup, and he nodded as best he could with his fist holding up his chin. He looked like he hadn’t even slept.

“thought you could use some, even though i wasn’t sure you’d wake any time soon. glad i made it just in case.”

“You are a _saint_ and I posture myself before you, sir,” Taz sighed dramatically in relief, hurrying over to gulp down about half the mug and missing Remix’s embarrassed blush; the coffee burned going down her itchy throat, but in the best way. Even better than the liquor from last night, which she could almost remember if she tried very hard to focus.

She made an almost obscene noise of contentment as she took several smaller sips, practically feeling the color returning to her body. At the sound of her noisily enjoying her caffeine, the others began to stir, or, in Red’s case, groan in pain.

“darlin’, if i’m gonna have to wake up to that noise with a hangover this awful, i only want you makin’ it in my bed.”

“Goodness, where was that offer last night?” Taz teased him with a smirk, which promptly shut him up. The others barely bat an eye, fully accustomed to her brand of flirtatious mockery now after spending hours on the receiving end of it from the previous night.

“morning to you too, honey,” Rus said after stretching his arms above his head and voice gravelly with sleep, causing a tingle to run down Taz’s spine, “i’d say ‘ _good_ morning’ if that were the case, but it really isn’t.”

“I’ll settle for ‘decent morning,’” she quipped, bringing the mug up to her mouth once more so only her eyes could reflect the humor of her tone.

“i think i can handle that for you,” he replied.

Red wasn’t doing as well, and his skull fell back down onto the bar top with a solid _thwomp_. He may also have made a whimpering noise, but it was hard to tell through six inches of mahogany.

Comet had rolled onto his back and peacefully fell back to sleep.

“Does anyone remember why I decided to sleep under a shelf when there were at least four unused couches?” Taz asked, counting them, “Five, if Rus moved his big feet.”

“six, actually,” he said, moving his lanky arms behind his head as he leaned back against the armrest. Taz gave him a quizzical, but dubious, look. “there was a perfectly good spot next to me on this one.”

“Oh please,” she said with a laugh as though she had expected as much from him, “With how touchy you were last night while you were _awake_ , I don’t think I’d have gotten a single moment’s sleep if we’d shared a couch.” Rus shrugged but his grin remained casual, revealing nothing as to whether or not he was teasing her. The wink he gave her was just s ambiguous, and Taz found herself blushing unabashedly.

“can you all stop _shouting_ ,” Red whined, turning his head to the side so he could be heard and swatting away one of Comet’s hands as it slid from his forehead and clacked against the back of Red’s skull.

“Nobody’s shouting. I think you just need to learn to hold your alcohol better, Fangs,” Taz said coyly, causing the polished bar to glow red as he blushed, still not used to her nickname.

“ok maybe you’re not, but the _ashtray_ is doin’ it on purpose, i swear.”

“go soak your head, red,” Rus responded benignly as, true to form, he began to light up a cigarette. It was once again less than obvious whether he meant to insult Red or genuinely give him advice for relieving the pains from his hangover.

Speaking of.

“Ow, what the fuck—” Taz complained as she scratched at her eyebrow, finally noticing a massive, pinching pain all over her face, “Why are my piercings hurting?”

“take a look at yourself,” Remix replied, waving her over to a wall of mirrors behind the bar; Taz set down her empty mug and wandered over, giving Red a tender pat on his shoulder as she passed. Trepidation grew in her stomach as she wondered what sight would meet her gaze in the mirror.

Side-stepping several empty bottles of beer on the floor behind the bar, Taz finally grew close enough to inspect her reflection—and promptly sighed at herself.

“Well no wonder,” a black-haired, brown-eyed, stocky but well-endowed woman mouthed along to her words, the scowl set upon her tanned face causing her numerous black facial piercings to shift even more uncomfortably. In an instant, Taz was back to how she usually looked—at least how she usually looked most of the time _these days_ —and glared at the four skeletons chuckling at her.

Oh, it looked like Comet had awoken just in time to join in on the joke. That sounded about right.

“How many times did I change last night?” Taz asked. Rus started to count on his long fingers but Remix interjected first.

“so many times that you eventually got too tired and crawled into the area under the cleaning supplies,” he laughed, answering both of her remaining questions. Taz nodded introspectively.

“Ah, I do tend to find the smallest, darkest place possible to sleep off magic exhaustion,” she said, eyes cast toward the ceiling in thought, “I think it just reminds me of home.”

“she says about the expansive three hundred-room resort hotel,” Red muttered, tone a little grumpy. But Taz just smirked at him.

“Well sure, if I’d been referring to this place. But my _actual_ place isn’t as grand. Maybe if you’re good I’ll let you see it sometime.”

“aren’t you staying here in the hotel?” Remix asked as Red once again looked anywhere else in the room other than at Taz. “With us” being implied but remaining unsaid. Aside from them obviously preferring she stay close for… personal reasons, they were also used to having the landlord around; Herb had lived in the presidential suite, which Edge had unceremoniously moved into following his death.

Taz waved her hand back and forth in response to Remix’s question: a “yes but no” gesture.

“I won’t be far, just over on the grounds. Don’t some of you stay in the cabins?” she asked. The four of them shared a look before glancing back to her and shaking their heads, “What! Well it’s no wonder why you’re all down each other’s throats. I’d probably be using Axe’s scary voice too if I had to live in such close quarters twenty-four, seven.” Comet chuckled lightly at that.

“if you mean the little shacks lining the edge of the forest, those aren’t exactly in a state to be lived in,” Rus said and Taz deflated a little, but rebounded a moment later.

“Well I know uncle Dill would have at least kept mine in a decent state of repair,” she asserted, busily picking up the bottles by her feet to be recycled. The others shared another quick look of uncertainty before her head popped up again. “As for the other cabins, I’d be happy to get maintenance called over to fix them up if anyone would want to move out there.”

Comet spoke up, tone diplomatic, “why don’t you take a look at them before deciding to fix them up, sunshine?”

Taz shrugged, not bothered by the implication of the state of the cabins being worse than she imagined them, but agreed.

“In the interest of appearing less impulsive, I will agree that’s a sound plan,” she joked and Comet chuckled sleepily—but his face quickly drooped with something like shock, an unbidden blush, lilac purple like a nebula, lighting up his cheeks. The others reacted much the same as Taz continued to crack her back, eyes squinting in concentration as a remarkable series of pops started at her shoulders and travelled all the way down the vertebrae of her spine. “Well, I’m off then. Anyone wanna tag along?”

“count me in.”

“hell yeah.”

Rus and Red were quick to offer to come with, but Comet and Remix, both refusing to meet Taz’s curious gaze, both mumbled excuses of needing some more sleep.

A believable lie. She’d never know.

…Right?

Hell, of course she knew. Everything she did was deliberate.

Regardless, the three of them— _four_ of them, as Sans had joined their group following a less-than-subtle text from Rus—slogged through the cold, dewy lawn behind the main property after passing through the outdoor patio off the lounge. As they passed near the playground Taz walked through the tire treads left by her car in the slightly muddy grass, one foot in front of the other and arms spread away from her body as though she were balanced on a beam. She checked that the car’s doors were locked—not that she was worried—before they continued on.

“remix still has your keys, i think,” Rus told her and she made a thoughtful noise.

“That was probably for the best; he’s good at that whole _forethought_ thing. But it’s not like I’m going anywhere anyway,” she said simply, which brought a surprising amount of comfort to the others.

They’d all silently tell themselves it was just that she was a better pick for landlord than some other human, but that wasn’t entirely true. They were all hoping she’d stay despite their disastrous first impression.

At least she was hard to scare off. That worked for them.

Eventually after a brief walk, the cabins came into view: about a dozen or so tiny one-bedroom houses. Sans had taken a look at them years ago to see if they’d be adequate four housing those that were currently living on the island; to say that wasn’t a possibility would be a vast understatement. They’d already been crumbling back then, and that was nearly five years ago now.

At this point, they were completely dilapidated.

Well, all except the one on the very end, closest to the entrance to the state park trails. It had sat there, locked tight and very strictly off-limits for longer than any of them had been here; and, as Taz tugged a key on a chain from under her sweater and approached the door, bright purple paint faded from years of sun and exposure, they all understood why Herb hadn’t allowed them the enter.

“Well come on in,” Taz said, looking a little smug in response to their surprise. She disappeared into the darkness and they hurried to follow.

Inside, the cabin was virtually identical to the others—well, at least in terms of structure: an open-plan living and kitchen area, with two doors to the right leading to a bedroom and bathroom. But, even with heavy, opaque covers on all the furniture, this was very obviously Taz’s old home from when she’d lived at the resort.

No other human, part monster or not, could ever duplicate or mimic Taz’s frenetic, eclectic style—at least not this convincingly. Her fingerprints were all over the cabin, both literally and figuratively.

Taz walked over to a large, lumpy object under a tarp, bending to check under it before straightening and throwing it back to reveal a plush multicolored couch, patched many times over with an assortment of mismatched fabrics. Dust floated through the air and settled around her in clumps like snow as she smiled at them and flopped down onto the expansive couch. It groaned loudly in protest at her lack of care but seemed to envelope her form regardless, like it was hugging her in greeting after a long time apart.

“Despite everything, it’s good to be home,” they heard her sigh mostly to herself before she sat up, coated from head to toe in dust, and grinned again, “See? I knew he’d keep everything here for me.”

Rus simply smiled, “heh, i guess you were right, honey.”

“The others seemed pretty shot to hell, and I’ll probably need new appliances in here anyway… or at least need help reattaching everything—last time I did it myself, the fridge hose came loose and flooded me out of the cabin for a week. Uncle Rosemary made me sleep in one of the top rooms without elevator access as punishment for being stubborn; kind of harsh for a fifteen-year-old. But I think we can contract some guys to get all of this done, in here and the other cabins, fairly easily and have them ready for anyone that would want to move in in probably… two weeks? Would that be ok? I can always hire more and push it to a little over a week?”

All of this was going on as Taz buzzed animatedly around the house, pulling up tarps, testing lights, and knocking on the walls—maybe checking for structural stability? Sans finally cut in, holding up his hands to calm her.

“sweetheart, it’s not that we don’t appreciate it, but we can’t ask you to do all of that for us.”

Taz stopped in the middle of checking for a blockage in her kitchen’s garbage disposal, her arm shoved into the sink drain halfway up to her elbow, and looked over with a face pinched in confusion, “Why not?”

“it’s a big ask, honey,” Rus clarified, and understanding spread across her face.

“But it’s really not.”

“besides, we don’t mind the hotel. we got plenty a’ space,” Red added as she pulled her arm free of the drain and rolled down her cardigan’s sleeve.

“You’re all so stressed that Axe nearly killed Sans in front of me yesterday.”

“but that’s nothing to do with you, it’s our problem,” Sans said, and then added, “it’s not your job, taz.”

Now she had him.

“Yes it is!” she cheered, struck with sudden inspiration and jumping a little in excitement, finger pointed at the three of them, “It’s my _job_ as your _landlady_ to keep you all happy and housed.”

“darlin’ that’s not—”

“Nope!” she cut Red off, “It’s my job and I’m doing it.”

“honey, we aren’t asking you to—”

“Nope!” she again interrupted, looking stubborn but eager, “You don’t need to ask, I want to.”

“sweetheart, what we’re trying to say is that it’s a lot of money—”

“Nope! Oh wait, no that’s true,” she corrected after another second’s thought, “But that’s a nonissue.”

They gave her a weighty look, but she waved them off.

“Look, think about it this way: The United States government is _making_ you stay here, right?”

They hadn’t truly discussed that yet, _among other important things_ , but…

“yeah.”

“And they aren’t exactly talking about _integration_ , right?”

They definitely hadn’t mentioned _that_ to her, but…

“yeah.”

“So it’s in their best interest to pay out the nose to keep you all comfortable, you know?”

Well that was more of a stretch.

“those assholes ain’t really in the business of makin’ us _happy_ , darlin’,” Red said what all three of them were thinking.

“Only because you haven’t made them yet,” Taz said cryptically, a narrow, cat-like smile on her face.

Rus popped a sucker in his mouth and plopped down on her couch, spreading out rather comfortably. “not following you,” he said as Taz came to sit on the armrest beside his head.

“You guys have an amazing hand; you just haven’t played it yet. Think of it this way: You’re a hotel full of monsters basically being interned here for an indefinite amount of time by the federal government, despite them trying to avoid scrutiny by keeping you quartered by someone from the private sector,” she explained slowly, deviously, “And you’re not being held for any reason they want to own up to; you’re not even under any charges. Sooo… play up your suffering a little bit, get Blue to flash some big, sad eyes at a video I quietly send to a few news agencies, and this place is the next monster rights battleground overnight.”

It sounded really easy when she laid it out for them, and Red was grinning wickedly at her underhandedness.

It’s not the kind of attention any of them really wanted directed at their goings-on, however.

But Taz had an answer to that too, “Of course, none of that actually needs to happen. The shitheads keeping you here know well enough that I’d do it, and the threat alone is all we need to get our funding.”

Is that why it had taken over a week for her to inherit the hotel when Herb had left everything to her?—it wasn’t exactly a complicated will to decipher. Had the government _actually_ tried to wrest the deed out of her hands, tried to buy her out of it, knowing that she would fight harder than Herb had for their comfort and happiness?

“shit honey, you’ve got even more of a spine than i thought,” said an impressed Rus, releasing an exhalation of breath meant to be a chuckle. Taz beamed at his compliment, her cheeks glowing with a bit of heat.

“I try to put my _backbone_ to good use,” she joked. Rus scooched over so he could pull her down onto the cushions with him, while Sans and Red came around the front of the couch and uncovered a set of chairs to sit in, sensing a planning session incoming.

“So, knowing that,” Taz continued, pausing to invite any additional rebuttals but receiving none, “Who all would want to move out to the cabins?”

 

* * *

 

 

In the end, the rest of the lodge had been thrilled at the idea of spreading out a bit more. Taz was having all the cabins fixed up in case anyone else changed their minds and wanted to vacate the hotel proper later on. And, even better, she has easily conned her way into having all the repairs done within her ambitious week-and-some-change timeframe. Apparently the government’s representative she had went through to make her demands had been extremely deferential, and even more helpful—according to how she told the story, anyway.

They were all beginning to realize they should take her tales with a _massive_ grain of salt. Or at least a sense of irony.

Regardless, by early April they were ready to move in; or, in Taz’s case—as she refused to sleep anywhere but the cabin her uncle had so meticulously kept for her—ready to begin _actually comfortably living_ in the cabins.

In the end, about half of them decided to move. Blue and Papyrus wanted to share a cabin—“IT’LL BE LIKE A NEVERENDING CAMPING SLUMBER PARTY!”—so Rus had one to himself; Sans was staying up in the hotel to keep everyone still there in line.

Pink and Jazz had very eagerly moved out but stayed together, citing the reasoning that they weren’t shy and didn’t need as much privacy from each other as some of the other brothers. And also that they’d get terribly lonely otherwise, “ _unless Taz wanted to keep them company, of course_.”

Jaws had begged his brother to let him stay with Tango, as the two were surprisingly close; and Taz could see how the precious giant longed to have a friendship like the one Papyrus and Blue shared. Axe had finally relented when she assured him that he could have the cabin right next door to them. He insisted on not having a roommate, but no one was exactly jumping at the chance to be locked in a one-bedroom cabin with the sullen, occasionally violent skeleton. However, Remix _had_ claimed the one on the other side of Jaws and Tango to keep close to his own brother.

And finally, G had also opted to go it alone, claiming the cabin next to Taz—which had originally been very stubbornly reserved by Red until Edge made it clear he was _not allowed_ to vacate his duties to protect his brother for anything. Papyrus and Blue were also disappointed, hoping to take it as well when a dejected Red had been dragged back to the hotel by the foot by Edge; they wanted to continue their job of protecting the landlady. But G had assuaged their fears by promising to keep a very, _very_ close eye on her for them.

And so it was that Taz fell into her freshly changed bedsheets around midnight on the night of April the seventh, thoroughly exhausted but extremely pleased with her efforts to improve life at the hotel. She found herself being lulled to sleep, still fully clothed, to the gentle hum or her new fridge, the distant yelling and NYEH-HEH-ing of Papyrus and Blue two cabins down, and a sense of comfort that overcame her as she felt a set of careful, intent eyelights on her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And please remember to go check out Sanuit_2526's story [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16251485/chapters/37996310)!   
> Also, JoMcIntosh has a great swap!Paps story [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14592375/chapters/33723786)that I recommend checking out! 
> 
> As always, if you've got a story you're working on, drop me a comment to let me know! I'm always looking for new stories to read.


	13. Spring: Geiger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello dears!! Thanks for checking out this new chapter. And of course thank you, as always, for your kind comments/kudos/views on the previous chapters! <3
> 
> I am so super excited for this chapter!! It's the intro for an original character, and AU, that I thought of over the summer when I was deep in Fallout fandom hell. It'll all come together in the chapter and I don't want to give anything away, but I do hope you like! I'm linking to some concept images in the end notes, so please check those out too. Since it's my first time delving into an original AU, I'd love to hear what you guys think!
> 
> **Next update is Monday December 24th, so check back then! Much love. <3 <3

**The Human Soul on Fire**

_Chapter 13- Geiger_

 

“This is the stupidest. Taz, I can’t believe it’s taken you this long to notice you don’t have your damned subwoofer set up.”

A security camera in the hallway leading away from the hotel’s foyer silently focused on Taz as she entered the building at 2 A.M. one night a few weeks after the cabins had been fixed. It tracked her as she set off in the opposite direction of the lounge and kitchens, toward the largely unused eastern section of the lodge. The camera’s lens swiveled to zoom in as far as it could before going dormant once more.

“ _Ooh, can’t fucking wait til the morning to get the damn thing_ ,” she continued speaking to no one in a shrill tone meant to mock herself, “Because then this livestream would be four hours old and I wouldn’t be able to say I was one of the first pretentious assholes to listen to the new album drop.”

The darkened hallway briefly lit up red as another security camera posted above the distant basement door came to life; Taz hadn’t noticed, as she chose that exact moment to turn on the flashlight to her phone, finding it a wiser option than continuing to grope about blindly as she walked down the hall.

“Damn west coast fuckers posting their stuff at midnight like it’s a videogame release or some bullshit,” she grumbled almost incoherently, wiping the bleariness from her eyes with a tired hand and using the other to illuminate her approach to the basement door. Despite her sleepiness and need to find the speaker from her storage unit quickly, Taz still bothered to wave to the security camera like always before tugging on the doorknob.

Locked.

“Fucking _ugh_ ,” she sighed, irresponsibly putting her phone between her teeth to root around in her pockets for her keyring, muttering to herself all the while about the utter lack of necessity to go through with any of these inconveniences but still refusing to give up and crash on a couch until morning.

The security camera whirred, pivoting directly downwards to inspect her face. The red “active” LED began to blink; was it recording?

“Finally, christ,” Taz huffed, forming the words as best she could around the device in her mouth. She spat it out after finding the desired key and sloppily inserting it into the deadbolt lock, “ _Come on, fingers_. If the rest of me is awake, you have to be too.”

Success. The door swung open and Taz posed victoriously, a little half-heartedly than normal due to the time of night and lack of caffeine in her bloodstream, and continued on her way down the cement stairs. She’d usually try the light switch, but Sans had warned her about the bulbs having burned out ages ago and them not bothering to change them out due to no one using the basement.

He’d been very… pushy about her not exploring down there. At least, not without letting him know first and allowing him to escort her. But Taz wasn’t about to wake the poor skeleton, knowing how little sleep he actually got on a nightly basis.

And she knew he _was_ sleeping, because they’d been carrying on a very animated discussion about her current musical venture, partnered with her twin Anniston, into remixing monster SOUL songs—and, more importantly, Taz had just started to steer the conversation in a decidedly flirty direction. Right before he stopped replying.

Definitely fell asleep.

And… she was especially unwilling to bother him for this, considering how stupid the reason was to have her venturing into the basement at this time of night. She didn’t often worry about how others viewed her— _since she was more than capable of manipulating it, if she really cared; ahem ahem_ —but with Sans, and a couple of the other more _responsible_ types here, Taz really wanted to make a good impression from just being herself.

The Taz currently tripping down the stairs to the unused, abysmally dark basement at an embarrassingly ungodly hour was not the picture of maturity she wanted Sans to see.

As it was, she didn’t have any trouble navigating the basement in the narrow light from her phone—at least once her feet were back on level ground. And she’d spent enough time down here as a kid that it was like muscle memory skirting around junk her uncle had had stored here, unmoved and probably forgotten, for almost longer than she had been alive. In fact, she noticed a toppled stack of boxes and dust covers that had probably once served as one of her numerous forts she’d scattered across the entire complex as a kid, when trying to find some new, undiscovered part of the building she’d never seen before.

She had quickly run out of new nooks and crannies to find. The forts almost filled that void: acting like portals in her mind to somewhere other than… here.

Taz moved on, rubbing her hand not occupied with her phone at the corner of her eyes when the memories started getting too weighty. But she wasn’t able to get far; there was suddenly something blocking her path that she hadn’t expected.

And she only knew it was there because she’d ran head-first into it while distractedly looking over the vaguely moonlit storage area. Turning to whatever had gotten in her way, Taz was shocked to find a cordoned off section of the basement that shouldn’t be there—cut off from the dusty storage area by a sterile, white wall that stretched from end to end.

“What the hell?” Taz muttered under her breath, laying a hang against the wall, “Did Herb remodel? Seems kind of pointless.”

But, running her hand along the oddly smooth surface, she found the material to be rather low-quality: feeling like little more than an especially glossy laminated plastic. Not exactly the kind of thing to use as a building material.

Walking down the length of the wall, hand gliding along it to search for any kind of flaw, Taz hunted for a doorway of some kind. The last time she’d checked, _her_ storage block was still on the western side of the basement, as it was the driest side.

The only noises were her footsteps, sounding all too loud and distracting against the cement floor, and perhaps the minute swiveling and whirring of another security camera. She stopped in front of what appeared to be a door. It would have been hard to find if she hadn’t been tracing her fingers along the surface and noticed the slight indentation of the frame. Gripping the slat-like handle and tugging, Taz realized the wall might be more intentionally built than she’d initially given it credit for, as the door slid back and fit perfectly into the space between the front and back panels. It was almost airtight.

But even stranger was what lay beyond the divider wall.

“Holy shit!” Taz breathed, finding her lungs burning as she emptied them and momentarily forgot to continue breathing. She stepped forward on shaky but hurried feet, her hands once again reaching for the surface before her. But this wall was completely different from the one behind her—and even more different still from anything else in the rest of the lodge. In fact, it might have been the most incredibly odd structure she’d ever seen or touched.

But she knew exactly what it was on sight alone.

“Fallout shelter…”

It was unmistakable. And massive! It filled the rest of the basement, save for a spare five feet on each of the four sides and a foot from the ceiling. It surely weighed some vast and unknowable amount, being made of solid metal and ribbed every few feet with an extra layer of soldered metal sheets and dark, polished rivets. Taz had to wonder how the floor of the basement was holding it up since the metal seemed to curve at the bottom, hinting that the entire thing was actually four walls, a ceiling, and a complete floor. Like a box: And all made from metal—most likely steel-reinforced on the interior.

It was miraculous. And she honestly wasn’t all that thrown to find something like this down here, given the current residents and their weird ways.

The metal of the walls, freezing cold to the touch, felt gritty and almost porous under Taz’s fingers; it must be lead, she thought. Which would make sense, as lead blocks the gamma rays of radiation and this was very clearly meant to be a bunker for surviving nuclear war.

Or… maybe that wasn’t quite it.

As Taz walked further down, past a huge door—lined with about fifteen sliding bolt-like locks on three of its sides like a bank vault—she locked eyes with someone inside the structure through six sold inches of glass. This new set of eyelights bore into her, so much like San’s if not for the frayed, diffuse look of them, like he couldn’t get them in focus. Taz faltered and sucked in a breath.

“been wondering when you’d finally make your way down to me, human,” a deep voice spoke to her, crackling like a bonfire but lacking any of the warmth. He didn’t need to open his mouth to speak, but his two rows of teeth separated the slightest amount regardless and a haze of smoke crept over them, sparks like green lightning spider-webbing throughout.

Maybe, Taz thought, the bunker was instead here to keep something nuclear _contained_.

“ooh, you’re awfully quiet for once,” the other said, clicking his teeth together again and grin twisting devilishly, “you’re not often speechless. i’m honored.”

Taz grappled to find her voice as her eyes darted everywhere over the monster behind the window.

Did she even need to say he was a skeleton? Well, maybe she did. Because he was perhaps the strangest one she’d yet met—and that included the precious but decidedly spooky-looking Jaws, as well as Jazz and his solid pink stomach of magic. He was small like Sans and Axe, maybe even smaller, but he had Axe’s same beat-up bones. The parts of him that weren’t flaking and charred like charcoal were positively _covered_ in nicks and scratches and defects; some cuts were so deep that the bone had actually chipped away. And, despite him smiling at her, however manic it seemed, he quite reminded her of Error: bones black and almost spindly, and clothing hanging off his frame, obviously at least three sizes too big. That and the detached, unfeeling look in his white eyelights; Taz was familiar with being on the receiving end of that look from E basically any time he bothered to be in her presence.

“Hi I’m Taz,” she said, introducing herself merely for something to say despite this skeleton obviously already knowing her—a point made even clearer as he laughed at her, adjusting his large circular wire-frame glasses so they flashed the overhead lights villainously at her.

“yeah, that i know, kid.”

“So you know I’m the new landlady too.” Not a question, but Taz figured she’d at least get it out of the way.

“landlady. everyone’s new best friend. half of the lodge’s new favorite plaything,” he said, intoning he knew even more than he was explicitly saying, “and half-human, half-monster oddity.”

Well at least he hadn’t called her an abomination.

“Ok, then we’re both on the same page,” she said easily, noting his implication of being involved with the others but not denying it. Didn’t matter that she wasn’t—he seemed smart enough to read through the lines of her actions… and the intentions behind her near-constant teasing.

Well it’s not like she was going for subtle. But how had he—

“about you, sure,” he interrupted her thought, hands clasped together behind his back in a surprisingly composed posture for someone so crazed in appearance. “hard not to be when you broadcast every little thing about yourself, even when you aren’t trying to charm the rest of those idiots out of their pants,” he continued snarkily and now Taz felt a flame of irritation rising in her.

But she quelled it, going the _charming_ route, as he’d put it. Even if he saw through it anyway, which was likely. “I like to think I do that without needing to try,” she shrugged, approaching the window, sturdy enough to withstand deep sea pressures, and getting a better look at him. He mirrored her, laying his arms on the edge of the window and eyes drooping slyly.

“i’m not denying that, kid,” he replied, letting her believe that she had him only a moment before retracting, “you can stop altering your aura—won’t work on me when i know you’re doing it.”

Taz couldn’t hold back her shock as the other guffawed in her face. “That’s not—I wasn’t…”

“oh sure, just like you _weren’t_ doing the same thing all day when you met the rest of them,” he said, grin so disgustingly smug that it looked like he should be sat on some scifi throne, stroking a long-haired cat and monologuing. She glared into his face as cracks in his bones lit up neon-green, pulsing in time with his wheezing laughs; but it was a measured reaction from her.

“Ok yeah, so I did that. I’d say you caught me, but I’ve already come clean about it.”

“yeah sure you have,” he said, waving his hand and already looking bored with the conversation, “you—what was that cute little phrase you used?— _bared your soul_ and all that, but did you _really_ tell them everything?” The way he said “cute” was not flattering; not even Taz could spin it to be complimentary.

The spark in her grew, doubling in size.

“It was actually a bit fucking invasive, but your lack of tack has been noted, thanks.”

He brought his face, eyelights shrunk to pinpricks, right up to the glass, his glasses pushing dangerously close to his face and cracking ever so slightly more than they already were. “ooh, there’s that _spark_ the horny ones were talking about when they heard you’d already thrown yourself at the cowardly little edgelord.”

Taz was silent, observing him as his eyelights minimized even further. His fingers were gripping the edge of the window so tightly that she wondered if it might leave an impression of his fingers.

“nothing to say? am i just a little to unusual for the new landlady—my particular brand of freak isn’t doing it for you?”

He was really working himself up now, and Taz finally noticed a gauge mounted beside the giant vault-like door, the arm on it swinging wildly, practically spinning, as a clicking started up like a chaotic metronome, tickling at a place of familiarity in the back of her mind.

“or maybe you’re trying to figure out just how to rig your aura, formulating the most effective line, the most enticing words, to get me to jump at the chance to have you _jump my bones_?”

Taz blinked at that before she regained her smile. It turned impish as she finally saw the frustrated beads of sweat slicking down the back of his skull, barely noticeable.

“Well I might have done,” she finally spoke, and his face reflected his vindication, “But it kind of looks like you want it too much.”

He wavered, victory fleeing his face jarringly fast as he glitched and stuttered, “that’s—i’m not—you can’t—i never—”

“Oh sure,” Taz copied the lackadaisical tone he’d just taken with her for an added burn. “And here I was thinking you might be different from the rest; but you’re still all cut from the same cloth… Not that that’s a _bad_ thing,” she added when she considered her words, not wanting to sound _too_ disinterested or glib. She did still genuinely _like_ the boys.

He quickly regained his crazed confidence, however. Only now it was dark and wicked; Taz felt the fire in her heart leap again, but this time not from anger.

“you don’t know anything about me, kid. the others thought you did, but they were obviously wrong.”

The needle on the gauge beside the door spiked again as his bones crackled, and that’s when Taz finally recognized the clicking.

“You’re gonna melt this metal cage if you don’t cool it on the radiation, Geiger.”

She’d surprised him again, but this time only due to her timing—he’d expected her to put it all together eventually, since she admittedly wasn’t stupid. But now was not when he’d planned for her to come to that conclusion.

And, annoyingly, she was right.

If he’d just kept his head, hadn’t let his discharge get out of hand, he might have been able to stay in control of the conversation—kept to the plan he’d been piecing together for weeks now, since she’d first waved to him.

…Turns out he couldn’t predict her quite like he thought he could. So now they were going off-script, it seemed.

“cute nickname,” he relented, relaxing his shoulders and pushing his glasses back up his face, “but the others would prefer you call me ‘arma.’”

“Short for ‘armageddon,’ I imagine?” Taz asked, noting the beret on his skull bearing a distinctly military-looking patch and the drab, threadbare clothes he worse under a labcoat that may have once been white before being drowned in years’ worth of oil, grease, and dust. He sneered, but looked impressed in spite of himself.

“g was right about you: vanilla wasn’t giving you enough credit.”

Taz decided to accept the somewhat insincere compliment while ignoring the slight against her favorite depression nap buddy. She glanced behind him for the first time and finally saw something that would have been immediately obvious if she hadn’t been so focused on the skeleton before her.

“So did Giggles tell you that himself, or did you just _hear_ him say it?” And she gestured, finger pointed, to the wall of tiny security monitors behind him. He didn’t need to turn to know she was pointing at the forty-odd on-screen images there, projecting nearly every nook and cranny of public space and common area in and around the lodge. His cameras didn’t have access to any of the dorms—most didn’t want him within even fifty feet of their rooms, obtaining all manners of blackmail to use against them—but there _was_ a single monitor very clearly trained on Taz’s cabin. The picture was distant and not quite centered, indicating that the camera was most likely not intended to be used to monitor the cabin.

But it was clearly hers.

Now Taz was counting the number of times she could remember closing the curtains on her front bedroom window. It was a small number.

A tingle ran slowly down her spine at the thought, kind of like when Rus gives her one of his ambiguous will-he/won’t-he grins, or when Red’s hands grab at her waist extra insistently to sit next to him on the couch while watching tv.

Arma didn’t play by the others’ rules; Taz liked that.

And, what’s more: He wasn’t even trying to hide it. He was laying his cards out and still acting like he hadn’t; Taz liked _that_ even more.

She liked the game.

Arma answered her question with a shrug before shoving his hands in the pockets of his labcoat, “some things i hear, some things i’m told.” He grinned toothily at her again, “some things i just know. know what i mean, kid?”

“You mean how _I_ know _you’re_ actually Sans. _A_ Sans. Whichever is less insulting.” That got a bark of actual laughter from Arma and Taz smiled cheekily back at him.

“you’d break his heart if he heard you say that; he wouldn’t know you were joking. the comedian is surprisingly incapable of not taking things personal when he actually likes someone.”

Taz felt a little bad about that now and locked it away in her brain to remember. “I think he’s just kind of paranoid.”

“yeah no shit,” Arma quipped, his careful demeanor slipping a little as she began to disarm him, “we’re all a bit keyed up, you may have noticed.”

“Yeah why is that?” Taz asked, now being the one to rest her arms on the edge of the window. He waved her closer like he was letting her in on a secret and, despite it being useless with a blast shield made of plexiglass between them, Taz amused him by moving forward to rest her forehead against the window and looking up into his dark eye sockets innocently. Arma’s grin turned coy a millisecond before he spoke.

“i can’t tell you that.”

She expected as much and drew back with a knowing smile of her own and half-lidded eyes. Her tone was playfully chastising, “Kill joy.”

“error would have my figurative hide if he found out i’d told you what we’re building down here,” Arma winked at her, letting her know that he was aware he’d given away more than he’d actually said.

“Ah, so _this_ is the super duper mega secret lab he disappears to all the time. I’m not allowed here, you know; he’s very sure to remind me every time he deigns to cross my path,” Taz made a noise of realization and cast him a blithe look. He merely moved a skeletal finger in front of his teeth and winked again.

Our little secret.

Taz took advantage of the moment to take in the whole lab, looking over the messy scattering of work tables contained in the vault, each with some equally flayed, desiccated looking machinery sitting atop it. In the center sat a tall, domed machine surrounded by every type of tool imaginable and hooked up to an array of computers and drives, which then snaked cables outside the vault itself to a bank of servers.

“Guess I should’ve known it would be in the spooky basement— _hey_!”

Taz had finally noticed something awful on one of the nearest work benches and she was appalled: her subwoofer! And—

—and it was completely gutted. Its innards were spilled out across the table, the backside panel unscrewed and tossed aside to offer better access to the delicate bits inside. It was like the corpse of a deer that had been hunted by a pack of wolves for sport—half-eaten and left to rot on the forest floor.

“I’m sure you’re aware, Mister Big Brother, but _that_ is what I was coming down here to retrieve.”

Arma’s poorly concealed smirk answered her, but at least he didn’t further insult her by laughing. Taz sighed.

“At least tell me it’s being used in something to help you guys. I know you can’t tell me what you’re building, but if Error is involved I know it’s not just a lark. So, you cannibalized it for a reason, right? For something that’ll make your lives better?”

Arma stuttered, thrown by her solemn hopefulness that her property was being put to a good use. And for them, no less. If he were being honest, he’d only grabbed it at all to hurt her—it had actually since proved to be a useful source of circuits and high-quality wiring (much more so than the fridge he’d cut open months ago)—and he’d made sure to place it front-and-center when he’d heard she was coming down to get it. He’d wanted to anger her, torture her by taking something she cared enough about to search for at this time of night. But now he found himself feeling… guilty?

He hadn’t felt that way in a long time.

“it’s been valuable,” Arma said quietly, and then continued to speak in a confusing need to appease her, “i didn’t realize it was important. i’m… sorry.”

It had been even longer since he’d apologized for something. The only one less concerned with the impact he left on others was Error himself.

“It’s really not a big deal. It’ll be more beneficial as parts in your project than as a speaker playing my shitty videogame remixes.” She astonished him by smiling widely, not a trace of malice or remorse on her face. Arma’s hands twitched in his pockets, one falling out and finding the arm of his glasses, adjusting them despite them not needing adjusted.

“that makes sense.”

Taz was quiet for another few moments, peeking around him to see every last bit of the lab. She probably figured she wouldn’t be allowed back down here again, which was almost a certainty.

“Hey, so I get that you have to stay down here because you’re leaking radiation, right?” Taz said, phrasing it like a question even though it really wasn’t. Arma jumped a little and simply nodded, throwing a thumb over his left shoulder to a curtained off area that contained his modest bed and kitchenette—not that he really ate or slept much.

He prepared for her questions about how dangerous he was. About how likely she was to contract radiation poisoning from him being here. Or how wise it was to have this much lead sitting in her hotel’s basement, slowing infecting the dust, which she could then breathe in.

But, he should remember, he’d realized he couldn’t predict her like he thought he could.

“Do you get lonely?”

He met her eyes, looking so concerned, but not at all for any of the reasons she should be. “wh-what?”

“It’s pretty terrible to have to be stuck down here by yourself. Even if some of the others aren’t the friendliest, it’s better than being alone all the time,” she said, smile empathetic. Not sympathetic—not _piteous_ —just understanding.

He had to give her an answer; but honestly, his thoughts were eluding him. “error stops in often enough.”

“Yeah, so that’s a yes. I like Pixel just fine, but a conversationalist he is not,” she laughed lightly—and she was right, “So what do you do if you need someone? I don’t imagine you get much cell service in this box.” For added clarity, Taz knocked her knuckles against the lead walls.

“goes without saying,” Arma chuckled a little too, but was sure to add, “wash your hands when you get a chance, by the way.”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine as long I don’t _lick it_ ,” she teased goodnaturedly, and he thought about how he’d rather she not either, as funny as it might be until she started getting poisoned.

“to answer your question, we run grounded cables outside the vault. i can ping anyone if i need something; most of the time someone remembers i’m here.” That was truer than he meant to be. Taz gave him another look, this time looking angry _for him_.

“Sometimes they don’t respond to you?”

He scratched a hand under his beret, looking avoidant. “sometimes, but i don’t usually need anything from outside. i used to break out sometimes if it was important, but i can’t do that anymore.”

She didn’t ask why, which he was grateful for. Herb may not have known he was down here, but he was still taking a daily dose of medicines to guard against radiation poisoning—he just didn’t know that either. Red would sneak the pill into his third nightly scotch, either when he was distracted or already too drunk to care what he was slipped. But Sans had been very clear when Taz took over as landlady: She wasn’t to be exposed at all and she wouldn’t be given any suspicious pills. That meant Arma had to stay securely locked up in the vault to avoid contamination.

“What if you contact me from now on?”

“huh?” He hadn’t really been paying attention, and now the sweet look she was giving him had his brain blanking even more. She giggled.

“You said you ‘ping’ someone when you need something? Can you set it up to do that to my phone?”

He expected her to follow it up by adding some kind of reasoning, like that she was less busy than the others. Or it being part of her job as landlady, something like that. But she didn’t—she just continued to smile at him, pulling out her phone to wiggle around for emphasis.

Did she just… want to?

“i can do that,” he finally answered, something pounding in his chest as her smile grew even wider.

“Great! Do you need it? I figure it’s more complicated than just typing in your number,” she asked, looking around for how to hand it over.

Fuck, she was right about it not being so simple—not that it was _hard_ either. It was just complicated, mostly due to logistics.

“i’ll need to see it for a few minutes, but i can’t take it from you now.”

She stopped looking around as it clicked in her head. “Ah. Radiation hands,” she said with a goofy smile, making one of his own cross his face.

“something like that,” he said, “just have vanilla bring it to me and i can fix it up.”

“Ok, I’ll have him do it first thing in the morning!” she said so brightly that Arma felt his cheeks burning. And not for the usual reason.

“ah, no rush, kid. just whenever you feel like it.”

“Well _I feel like it_ right now,” she teased, making him burn even more, “But I’m not going to wake him up at this time of night—tomorrow morning is fair game though. Wouldn’t want you getting bored.”

“i’ve got the cameras to keep me distracted,” he said simply, squirming under her gaze now.

This was not at all how he had planned for this to go. But it was somehow… better.

“Ah, right. I do hope I have been _entertaining_ to spy on,” she said, suddenly diverting her eyes. This was different, what brought that on? She didn’t sound angry at him for watching her cabin; she maybe sounded… embarrassed? But shouldn’t she have realized—

Wait. Did she really not know about someone watching them before she came down here? But she—

“you wave at the cameras.”

Now she looked properly mortified, “I _do_ do that, yeah.”

“but you didn’t know anyone was actually watching.”

“Sure didn’t, Geiger.”

Arma wanted to enjoy the thrill of her continuing to use her little nickname for him, but the effort not to laugh at her was taking all his concentration.

“this is amazing. you know, you actually got axe to call a truce with vanilla and the ashtray when they saw you do that the first time. they thought you knew about me, which was incredibly suspicious since herbert didn’t even know.”

Taz smacked herself on the forehead, and Arma’s composure finally slipped, releasing a full body laugh that had him bent over, eye sockets screwed shut and watering. She joined him too after a moment, but was still obviously embarrassed over the entire misunderstanding.

“Are you telling me that I was actively making myself look more suspicious just from being my dumb self?”

Arma calmed, removing his glasses to wipe at his eyes and nodding. “hell yeah, kid. sorry. i was pretty surprised too.” He almost said that it was the best interaction he’d had with another person in years—especially sad considering she actually had no idea all along—but he caught himself. “so why do it?”

“Hmm? It’s just something I do.”

“what, to every security camera you see? sorry sweetheart, i’m only wired to the ones here.”

She flushed, covering her face with her hands and making a whimpering noise Arma wasn’t sure she’d ever made during her entire month here.

Interesting.

“This is so stupid. Even stupider than looking for a subwoofer in a dark basement at 2 A.M. and accidentally stumbling across a radioactive skeleton in a lead-lined bunker,” Taz made the noise again before removing her hands and sitting him with a look, childish and innocent, like she was begging him not to judge her.

“So I read this scifi book when I was a teenager, and there was a character in it that was in a relationship with his spaceship’s AI. She got a body later on, but they fell in love just from talking to each other every day.”

“go on.” He was… liking where that was going.

“So this character, because he loved an AI, saw the humanity in every type of robotic entity—even ones that weren’t sentient like his girlfriend. The part that always stuck out to me was how he’d listen to a robot’s entire recorded dialogue when interacting with one. Like, in one scene he stays and listens to a starport’s docking robot—like the entire boring speech it gives every time someone docks—because it’s rude to walk away from someone when they’re in the middle of telling you something.”

Arma could see the connection starting to form now.

“So, like, we don’t have AI. But now I’m _super aware_ of how I interact with robots in our world—pre-recorded messages and “smart” appliances and… _ugh—_ ”

“and security cameras.”

“Yes,” she sighed at herself, “Because most really don’t have anyone watching them, most just get recorded on tapes and stored away. But if there is someone there, someone stuck in a monotonous, cyclical job where no one pays you any mind…”

He sees, now.

“I want to be the one person that reminds them of their humanity.”

Oh he was a goner.

 

* * *

 

 

The next morning came so slowly for Arma, but the positively surly look on Sans’s face when he handed over Taz’s phone made it all worthwhile. He grabbed the device, swiftly plugging it into his personal computer to download the software he’d promised her: an app of his own design that would allow them to communicate, but also give him access to her files, camera and microphone, internal storage, etc. It was more than just texting—he’d have the kind of personal access to the landlady that he knew several of the others were already considering pursuing with her but were too chickenshit to go for.

He’d be _first_.

For the first time ever.

“she swears she came down here of her volition, but if i get any indication you lured her…” Sans was threatening behind Arma’s back, arms crossed and face full of disdain.

“usually you aren’t this hostile with me, vanilla,” Arma noted, voice playful despite his words. He kept his back turned to the other under the pretense of loading up his app, but, in reality, it was to hide his victorious grin. “either you’re sore she found out about me despite your best attempts to keep her away—” Sans scoffed, “—or you’re sore that she actually likes me.”

“taz likes everyone in the house, if you somehow hadn’t noticed,” Sans replied, tone clipped.

Arma hummed thoughtfully, “that hasn’t escaped me. she’s even nice to the edgelord himself, despite her obviously being aware of him contributing to herbert’s unusually early onset heart problems.”

Sans was quiet.

“and i did my damnedest to make her hate me too, yet here we are,” Arma said as he unplugged the phone and tossed it back to Sans. His double scrutinized him as he slipped his hands back into his labcoat, fingers idly toying with the charm he’d just stolen from her phone case. “she’s special. don’t make her regret giving us all a shot—multiple shots, really, after that stunt you pulled making remix release her SOUL.”

“had to be done.”

“right, because she was setting off all your paranoid red flags, i know,” Arma said understandingly, despite the less than modest amount of condescension evident in his tone. “and then she even says she knows who we all _really_ are, and you _still_ haven’t sat her down to talk about it.”

“she’s right, and she knows she’s right. what’s it matter if we tell her she’s right?”

“because you hurt her and you deserve to make it fair by evening the playing field, classic,” Arma said, face darkening, “you made her expose the most private part of her life to you—without asking—and you expect to get by without doing the same?”

Sans was silent again, glaring back at him despite the sweat accumulating on his skull.

“ok mr. judge, jury, and executioner, think of it this way: if you were the one judging yourself and your actions, would you be found guilty?” Arma pressed, face stern.

Sans waited to hear the clicking of the Geiger counter, but it was silent too. Arma wasn’t leaking radiation for once, despite his anger.

“once you’ve got your answer, next consider how you’d handle anyone you judged guilty,” Arma continued, fist closing around the charm in his pocket, “did you ever let them get away without punishment or penance?”

Sans knew Arma had been taken from his timeline before his version of Frisk had ever once visited the realm of monsters—his universe’s “underground” was very different from Sans’s own, but there was always a Frisk, just as there was always a Sans, a Papyrus, and all the others.

This version of himself was very young; and if Sans thought very hard, he could almost remember that singular conviction he’d also once had. As he grew older—in both years and spirit—aged in hardships and more resets than he could possibly count, that conviction had changed too; it became more varied, more fractured, more nebulous. It was still there, but it had been modified on a cellular level by the choices he’d had to make, the burdens he’d had to bare. Sometimes he really appreciated Arma’s untouched principles.

And sometimes he really hated him for it.

“alright man, you know i feel bad about it. what more do you want me to do? keep your platitudes and say it in real words,” Sans grumbled, leaning against the workbench behind him.

“tell her who we _really_ are, of course. it doesn’t matter that she knows—she deserves to hear it from you.”

Easy enough… but—

“why do you care?” Sans asked, and the other turned back to his computer, tapping on some keys and opening several files and web pages.

“i care because even you, the one who got within a foot of her living SOUL, still don’t understand just how rare she is.”

Sans came over to see what Arma was looking at, and saw several articles about anti-monster riots from over the past few years. There were also some separate pictures that seemed to be cut from larger shots and enhanced for clarity.

One particular image stood out: a youngish girl, a red bandana covering the majority of her pale, freckled face, with long, shiny black hair whipping dramatically around her in the smoky, dust-choked wind. She was poised to throw what looked like a gas cannister, clasped deathly tight in her gloved hand; her arm was bent behind her head and her back was beginning to arch, giving her shot all the strength possible. She was covered in dirt and bruises and small patches of what was probably blood, but her eyes were sharp and focused.

There was a fire in her.

“ok, and?” Sans asked, causing Arma to smirk so smugly Sans wanted to clock him.

“i didn’t expect you to see it,” Arma said and Sans sighed, “look closer at her. notice anything odd?”

“other than a tiny girl throwing grenades at a line of cops like it’s her job?” Sans mumbled as he looked over the photo again—wait.

“that tattoo.”

Quickly scanning over the other photos, each of a different girl, Sans noticed one thing that each had in common: On each of their right thighs was a huge tattoo. Pink leaves like blossom petals, swaying in a light breeze that was more like a sigh. Elegantly twisting green branches that looked like vines, glinting with a shine like a smile. A mysterious knot in the center of the trunk, unfathomably dark if not for a glimmer of something glowing within.

Even if Sans hadn’t seen this exact tattoo on Taz with his own eyes, he’d recognize it from her description of the fairy tree from the story she’d told them on her first night in the lodge.

“they’re all her.”

Arma gave him a cheeky look, pleased with Sans’s look of shock, “indeed they are.”

Sans skimmed the articles: pieces covering various anti-monster demonstrations over the past few years, when tensions started heating again after human-monster marriages had been legalized.

—the protests outside the monster embassy, which had been moved to the capital proper from Ebott.

—the demonstrations against monsters being allowed to participate in major league sports with humans.

—the pickets outside the court determining whether to relax the ban on public displays of magic.

She was probably changing her appearance to avoid being recognized—it looked like she’d been present at every major anti-monster incident over the last decade.

“why wouldn’t she change her tattoo though?” Sans asked.

Arma shrugged. “maybe she thought no one would notice it—maybe she _wanted_ someone to recognize her. maybe it just means too much to her to hide it. or maybe it’s a limitation of her magic, since she’s only half-monster; maybe she can’t change something permanently inked into her skin. what does it matter? did you even notice what she’s doing in that photo?”

The first image, the one where Taz was in the middle of throwing the smoke grenade back into a crowd of humans, was from the riots in Ebott two years ago; it was the worst it had ever been. People had died on both sides when the violence had finally boiled over and someone had fired a gun into a group of peacefully chanting monsters. The bigoted humans, ignorant as they were and never bothering to learn anything about things that scared them, had assumed the monsters were trying to perform a ritual to use magic against them.

It had been the Hymn of the Angel Who Had Seen the Surface. No more inherently magical than any other religious song from any other surface religion.

“you guys didn’t even realize just how much she’s in your corner,” Arma taunted him as Sans noticed the figure behind Taz, small and furry and cowering, which seemed to be having trouble breathing in the smog. Was she throwing the cannister away to help clear the air? Was she defending the monster, or covering them so they could flee? “so you’re going to apologize to her, and you’re going to tell her everything.”

Sans made a grunt of understanding, meeting the fire in her eyes with his own.

“because rest assured, _i_ will if _you_ don’t,” Arma said, smile full of intention, “i’m not like you morons: i know a firecracker when i see one.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got some concept images for Arma up on my tumblr [here](https://alien-ariel7.tumblr.com/tagged/The-Human-Soul-on-Fire)!! My wonderful boyfriend Spencer sketched these for me as a Christmas present, so I hope you like them. And if anyone is artistically inclined and wanted to draw him as well, I'd love to see! I am awful at drawing lol, so I tried my best to describe his appearance in the story itself.
> 
> And please remember to go check out Sanuit_2526's story [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16251485/chapters/37996310)!  
> Also, JoMcIntosh has a great swap!Paps story [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14592375/chapters/33723786) that I recommend checking out!
> 
> As always, if you've got a story you're working on, drop me a comment to let me know! I'm always looking for new stories to read. (And for those that have recently sent me links, I'm working through reading them now! I've been a little busier than usual the past week)


	14. Spring: Rain and Shelter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! So happy to have you back for this chapter. And thank you, as always, for all the lovely comments/kudos/views on the last chapter. I'm so happy you all seemed to like Arma! He's such a good bad boy; I can't wait to write more with him and get into the details of the Undershelter AU.
> 
> This chapter is suuuuuper long, basically by accident. It was actually planned to be a shorter interlude into the next one, but here we are. It's the longest yet. And it's a riot.  
> I had such a good time writing this one up, and I hope it puts a smile on your face! 
> 
> Lastly, Happy Holidays to everyone who celebrates! Or, if you don't, please have a good day regardless! I personally celebrate Christmas, and I'm actually headed right out to my parents' place once I finish posting here (I'll be replying to everyone's comments on the last chapter over the course of the day, since I don't have time at the moment). I apologize for any syntax errors/omissions that might pop up, especially toward the end of the chapter, as I didn't want to delay posting this chapter and it only went through one editing phase. 
> 
> **Next chapter to be posted on Monday 12/31! Much love, dears. Have a wonderful week! 💛

**The Human Soul on Fire**

_Chapter 14- Rain and Shelter_

 

Taz wasn’t sure she’d ever seen so much rain. Snow she was used to—can’t live on Lake Erie and pretend like you haven’t irresponsibly driven through five feet of snow at least a dozen times just to spend the night drinking in the shitty neighborhood bar—but this was an unusual amount of non-frozen precipitation for the area. It was like the lake itself was getting sucked up into the atmosphere and then pissed back out over top the lodge for days on end. And today was looking to be more of the same, just with a side of gale-force winds too.

Taz was thankful the contractors that had been fixing up the other cabins a few weeks ago had also noticed a couple of spots on her own roof that needed patched, otherwise she’d have herself a bit of an unwanted indoor swimming pool by now.

Her phone pinged from her coffee table, so she wandered over to retrieve it. She smiled softly as she noticed the app Arma had installed on her phone shaking with a new notification on her homepage; she tapped it and pulled open his text.

 **Geiger (6:45 A.M.):** stop staring so wistfully out the window, you’re killing the mood here.

Taz’s smile turned into a smirk as she walked back to her window, curtains drawn open, and lifted her middle finger in the direction of the security camera posted on the nearby telephone pole.

She knew she could just video chat with him through his app, but this was sometimes more fun.

 **You (6:46 A.M.):** All this rain has me feeling melancholic.

 **Geiger (6:46 A.M.):** i’d have thought it’d take a bit more than a storm to dampen your spark, firecracker.

Taz smiled at the nickname, snapping a quick selfie—making a heart with her hands but sticking out her tongue—to send back to him before deciding to get changed and brave the day. Maybe some of the others would be up by now.

She hadn’t really slept all that much the previous night.

Her phone was silent until she’d entered the hotel, shaking her long hair and unceremoniously wringing her beanie out onto the tile flooring of the lounge, since it was the nearest entrance from the backyard. Sparing one last glance at her phone, Taz felt a smile creeping up one side of her mouth as a warm feeling blossomed in her heart.

 **Geiger (7:06 A.M.):** that’s my girl.

“Honey I’m home!” Taz called to amuse herself, not actually expecting a response.

“honey we’re here,” a voice surprised her by replying, coming from the living room area of the split level. Sounded like Rus… but what was he doing here? And at this time of day?

“You feeling ok, Ashes? A bit early for you to be vertical,” she said, descending the stairs and dripping water as she went. She glanced up to see a few others awake as well. “Well, mostly vertical,” she amended.

Rus was sitting on a couch, slumped so tiredly that he was nearly falling off. Beside him were Blue and Papyrus, huddled together and shivering under a massive blanket that looked more like a comforter from one of their beds.

“Oh sorry, is it cold is here?” she asked them before feeling a draft herself, “Oof, _I’m_ cold, but I think that’s because—”

“because you’re soaked and dripping all over the carpet,” another interrupted her from a darker corner.

“ _Hey_ Killer,” she said, unbothered by Axe’s rudeness—in part from him being right in his assertions, but mostly because she just found Axe’s uncouth ways cute.

“HELLO, MISS-MISS T-TAZ!” Jaws greeted her as well, also under a blanket and shaking so badly that his teeth chattered around in his skull even worse than normal.

“Hi Nibbles,” she responded, earning a sweet smile from Jaws before he was quickly covering his face with the blanket, a crack of thunder booming all around them and rattling the panes of glass in the window frames on the far side of the room. “It’s really coming down out there. Not sure if you can tell why, but I don’t recommend taking any walks through the trails any time soon.”

Taz held her arms up and away from her body before dropping them to smack back against her sides with a pathetic _squelch_ and a giggle. She wasn’t stupid, she now knew why the three precious skeletons were hiding and why their brothers—with the exception of Sans, who was oddly missing—looked like they hadn’t gotten a second’s sleep. But she also wasn’t going to exacerbate their fears, or their embarrassment, by drawing attention to it.

“well luckily for us you decided to bring the rain in with you,” Axe sneered and Jaws scolded his brother as authoritatively as he could from under the blanket.

“I like sharing, what can I say?” she quipped with a shrug. Axe’s eyes darkened.

“you should have brought an umbrella.”

“Wind’s so strong it’s raining sideways. Wouldn’t do no good.”

“well then you should have stayed home.”

“But I was lonely and bored and all my friends are here.”

“but you’re gonna get sick.”

Taz paused their argument for a moment, her grin turning coy. “Are you _worried_ about me, Killer?”

“no.” Axe’s response was immediate, and the only indication betraying his annoyance was his grip tightening on the chair’s armrests.

“Ok fine,” she sighed. Then: “It’ll be _our little secret_.” Axe blipped out of the chair and reappeared as he tugged the door to the hallway open.

“where ya goin’, axe?” Rus called exhaustedly. The other just scoffed.

“getting’ the idiot some dry clothes before she gets a fever and _really_ pisses me off.” And then he was gone again, teleporting as far as he could in the direction of the dorm. With his injury, it took him longer than it would Rus or Sans, but he was happy for any excuse to leave.

“Surprises let me know he cares,” Taz recited, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. But she was smiling.

“say it ain’t so, i will not go,” Rus echoed, getting her to laugh and hum a little to herself. Rus felt a little less tired when she was around and enjoying herself.

“So, mind if I join in on the cuddle time?” Taz asked, already approaching Jaws and grabbing his hand to lead him over to the couch with the other three and sitting on the floor. She sent Rus a wink, as if to assure him she’d keep her eyes on the others if he wanted to catch some sleep. He grinned gratefully, sent a quick text from his phone, and immediately drifted off.

Taz’s phone beeped form inside her pocket again, but she left it for now.

Soon Axe returned with a bundle of clothes under his arm that he tossed into her face before settling on the couch opposite them and growling at her to change. Taz hurried off toward the laundry room so she could also dry her own clothes, but promised to return shortly.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck cold,” Taz mumbled to herself like a mantra as she striped and her bare feet stuck to the cement floor of the laundry room. The sensation reminded her vaguely of when she’d stick her tongue to metal poles in the winter as a kid. Herb had half-joked, half-threatened to just have it cut out after their third time calling an ambulance during her first winter staying at the lodge; she’d still done it a fourth time just to test him.

And it was weirdly fun, despite how much it hurt. She still got tempted sometimes.

As she struggled free of her drenched shirt, Taz noticed her phone beeping more insistently from its spot on top of the dryer. Sounded important. She scooped it up right before the creeping puddle of water coming from her soaked clothes could get to it, standing in nothing more than her underwear as she unlocked it.

The first message was unsurprisingly from Rus.

 **Ashes (7:30 A.M.):** i owe you one, honey. but be sure to change. can see right through your shirt.

Well oops. That wasn’t intentional.

The second one was from Arma, and it was even worse.

 **Geiger (7:46 A.M.):** that rooms not private kid

Unusual for him not to use proper grammar, even if he texted in all lower caps. He was either typing very fast… or covering his eyes. Taz turned away from the camera in the laundry room to hide her devious smile.

“I know,” she called loudly so the camera would hear before continuing to dress and throwing her clothes in the dryer. She knew he was listening, even if he wasn’t exactly watching.

It was a long few minutes before he responded—just long enough for Taz to wonder if she’d killed him. She glanced at the text, smirked to herself, and returned her phone to the pocket of Axe’s baggy borrowed sweatpants without replying. He obviously wasn’t looking for a response, anyway.

 **Geiger (7:55 A.M.):** you’re a bad girl, firecracker.

“I know,” she echoed to herself with a proud chuckle.

Once back in the living room, Taz went full protection mode, cooling it on her teasing. Right now her favorite sweet boys needed her support more than she needed to torture Arma, Rus, or even Axe—as fun as that particular one was.

“HELLO ANASTASIA,” Blue greeted her as she came to sit on the floor once more, but he wasn’t quite meeting her eyes. Oh no, had he seen what his brother had too?

Oops.

“Hey Boo, you’re looking cozy,” Taz said pleasantly with a smile as demure as possible for her, indicating his rocket ship patterned pjs. In fact, both Papyrus and Jaws were also in their pajamas. “Let me see yours,” she coaxed the other two, trying to divert their attentions from the storm outside, which only seemed to howl louder and louder as the morning progressed.

“MY BROTHER MADE MINE!” Papyrus proclaimed, pride in his absent brother obvious for all to see. They were similar to Blue’s, but the pattern was Mettaton’s face—and with all the glitter one would expect from the idol.

“Very cute! You look like a disco ball, Bunny.”

While Papyrus blushed giddily, Jaws meekly peered out from his blanket nest at Taz. Her smile was blinding with encouragement, so he finally had the courage to show off his pjs. Taz squealed with delight.

They were footy pajamas! She could die from the cuteness, especially once she realized that there was a hood with little bear ears and a tail as well.

“Oh. My. God. You’re _killing_ me, Nibbles!” Taz said, leaning over to flip the hood gently over his head and tugging on the ears. Jaws flushed all over his skull, a deeper, more rusty orange than Papyrus, and covered his face with his hands. “I have a few kigurumis, which are basically what you’re wearing but without feet—I wish I could go get one so we could match!”

“don’t even think about it,” Axe grumbled.

“I BET YOU LOOK REALLY CUTE IN THAT!” Blue piped up over Axe, sounding confident in his compliment but quickly devolving into a flustered mess. “I MEAN, CUTE AS IN—IN… ADORABLE— _I MEAN_ —”

“You’re _fine_ , Boo,” Taz cooed, patting his hands and trying not to giggle at his embarrassment, “And you’re right: cute is _definitely_ the goal with kigus. Well, cute and comfort.”

She settled back on her hands, swinging her legs together and apart a few times, like she was trying to make a snow angel in the thick shag area rug.

“But honestly, this is pretty comfy too. Axe knows what’s up.”

She vaguely heard him scoff at her praise from the distant couch behind her.

“IT SEEMS THAT WE ARE ALL IN OUR PJS!” Jaws perked up, his nerve bolstered by the relaxing atmosphere.

Well, Rus and Axe were just in their usual hoodies and shorts… No, Jaws was right—they were basically in pajamas too.

Now Taz was wondering how they’d look if they dressed up a bit; she liked their lazy looks just fine, but imagine Rus with his shoes tied. Or Axe in an unstained printed tee instead of what was more or less just an undershirt. Ooh, what about suits…

Nope! Focus, Taz! Now was the time to keep the others calm; she could dream later.

Honestly, what they really needed right now was a distraction.

Hmm… a movie seemed obvious. Or a videogame, which may be even better, as she knew Blue got quite loud when he was fired up, which could help drown out the sounds of the storm. Maybe she could challenge them to something competitive, like Halo? But she wasn’t sure Jaws would be all that comfortable with a shooter. And Papyrus was still sore over his most recent loss in Mario Party, so that was out too.

But what if she got them involved in a project? Something fun but also engaging enough to keep their minds preoccupied instead of getting consumed by fear. That had some promise. And besides, her boys were fun to watch when they were working—their energy surpassed even her own.

Another crack of thunder wracked the lodge, sounding as though lightening had struck the ground just outside. All three of the hiding skeletons yelped and hurriedly moved to cover their heads once more, reduced to shivering, shapeless masses under their blankets. Even Rus had awoken, looking concerned.

Wait, she had it!

“Have you guys ever made a blanket fort?” Taz asked, trying to keep her voice soft and gentle, but ultimately lost to her mounting excitement.

Three heads shook in response to her question, looking rather silly as they were still refusing to peek out from under the blankets. Taz was fighting to not giggle, as Papyrus’s comforter was also Mettaton-print, with the robot’s face being exactly where Papyrus’s own should be. It was completely absurd.

“Ok, I know what we’re doing now!” Taz cheered, springing up and turning to Axe and Rus, the latter of whom blinking blearily at her. “We’re gonna need a lot of blankets and pillows. You guys wanna help me go get some?”

Axe snorted as Rus stood and stretched.

“as if.”

“sure thing.”

One guess who was the one being an ass.

“The day you two agree on something is that day that world ends,” Taz chuckled, despite remembering that they very recently _had_ agreed on something without bringing about planetary destruction: that she was dangerous and knew too much. She didn’t know if Arma had mentioned to any of them that he’d told her about it, but she was happier letting it just be water under the bridge anyway.

“we agree on plenty of shit that actually matters,” Axe said, still refusing to move. Taz just stared him down, smile playful.

“Ok Killer, but if you don’t help, you’re not gonna be allowed inside Fort Fun and Victory and Stuff,” Taz teased, knowing he gave exactly zero shits and that threatening to exclude him actually suited him just fine.

“if you can move me, morsel,” Axe said snarkily, sinking farther into the couch for added effect.

“You’re on,” Taz said, eyes glinting with mischief as his nickname briefly made her brain forget that she was supposed to be taking care of Jaws, Blue, and Papyrus at the moment. A bolt of lightning igniting the room in a blueish white light was quick to remind her. “Ok Rus, let’s go!”

“lead the way, honey,” he chuckled, pushing at the small of her back before her own momentum carried her off toward the hall, a bounce in her step now that she had a purpose.

And so it was that Taz began to rid every empty room in the hotel of all their blankets, sheets, comforters, and pillows. When their loads became too heavy, Rus would teleport back to the living room and meet back up with her again to take more.

“honey, how big are we making this fort?” Rus finally asked after his ninth trip, Taz already filling his arms completely once more.

“Big enough for everyone is the goal,” Taz said, closing a door behind her after depleting the room beyond of all its soft, lineny resources. “I can’t imagine it’s just them that are scared. Not much weather where you all came from.”

Taz left out the fact that monsters came to the surface over two decades ago and that most had grown accustomed to it by now. None of them had yet confirmed her theory of who they all were—not outright, anyway; Arma came close, but even he hadn’t said she was right. That said, if _she was right_ , then not all of them had seen the surface until very recently, when they’d wound up here in the hotel.

Rus just hummed in response to her thoughts and in the back of her mind Taz huffed in irritation.

“Aaanyway,” she continued, opening the next door and tearing into the bed like a raccoon in an attic’s insulation, “I figure this will help get everyone’s mind off the storm. And besides, the more blankets we use, the more muffled the noise. So no complaining.” She laughed.

Rus began his reply, which turned into a grunt as a pillow smacked him in the face and fell onto the pile in his arms.

“I think we’re about done if you want to shortcut back,” Taz said, tone making it obvious she’d done it on purpose, “I’m gonna go round up some of the others and meet you there.”

She’d intended to slip back out into the hallways before he recovered, but Rus was faster than she anticipated, dropping the linens in a heap before spinning her around to back them both up against the door. As he lowered his face, still looming well above her due to his impressive height, Taz saw something sparkling in his eyelights—something mischievous, but holding a promise she felt herself leaning into.

“you’re a bad girl.” His words were softer than usual and husky, his breath smelling faintly of honey. Seemed fitting, giving the honeyed words he was practically whispering into her ear. Taz felt her heart leaping, but still couldn’t help the giggle that came from her throat.

“So I’m told. Not even noon and I’ve already heard that twice now,” she said, leaning her head back as Rus slid his hands further down the door: one above her head and the other almost ghosting her waist. “If I keep this up, by the end of the day one of you is either gonna kill me…”

Did she dare to say it? Honestly, from the look Rus was giving her, she really didn’t even need to.

But still, she couldn’t help it. She dared.

“…or kiss me.”

The beginning of a purr in Rus’s throat was her answer. Oh she liked that answer.

But it was too much fun to tease.

So, before he could properly say anything or even move, Taz was grabbing the doorknob and twisting it, slipping lithely into the hallway as Rus righted himself and met her coy smile with one of his own. He simply picked up the bundle he’d dropped and approached her, her breath catching and heart hammering against her rib cage. But all he did, as if to punish her, was bend down to her eye-level and wink before shortcutting away.

“we’ll see, honey,” was all he said.

Taz released the breath she was holding in a single long, loud stream.

Even if he did choose to kiss her, Taz was starting to suspect she might die anyway.

Ok.

Focusing.

Focusing!

Time to find the others.

Taz started off into the dorms once her legs didn’t feel like jello anymore, knocking on doors and inviting the tenants down as she went. Most seemed glad for the diversion—even Sans, whom Taz had found napping face-down in a pile of socks instead of his equally uncomfortable bed. He, Axe, and Rus had been taking their sleep in turns as they watched over their frightened brothers; it was currently his turn, but he was happy to teleport down to the living room instead once she’d let him in on the plan.

As it turned out, everyone had shown up. Well, the ones that could—example: Arma couldn’t—or even would—read as: Error had zero fucking interest. Still, Taz was able to queue up Arma’s app on her phone and carry him around like a video screen if he got a spare moment to step away from work, so even he might end up being part of the party.

Error was impossible to summon, but most seemed fine with that.

“Let construction begin!” Taz hailed, throwing up her hands and injecting a little bit of life back into her lodgemates.

She’d get them all to calm down and enjoy the day. Just watch her.

 

* * *

 

 

“Alright, I think we’re all here. Members of the assault on Outpost No Fun Allowed sound off,” Taz whispered with as much authority as possible despite her aura spinning wildly with whimsy and mirth, feeding the ramping excitement of the others around her as well.

“PRESENT!” Papyrus scream-whispered.

“HERE!” said Blue, matching his cousin’s enthusiasm.

“THE OUTSTANDING PLUTO IS READY!”

“AS IS THE WONDEROUS TANGO!”

“I’m ready too, General!” Ink said, quivering so violently that Taz feared he might vomit again—it had already happened, but Ink refused to say where it was.

And then finally there were four choruses of “yo” from Sans, Rus, Comet, and Remix.

“Ok! All accounted for,” Taz said, adjusting Arma’s beret to sit better on her head; earlier one of them had retrieved it for her so she could better play the part of the blanket fort’s military leader. “Let the strategy meeting for Operation Cathedral Take-Backsies now come to order. Let’s talk intelligence—Geiger?”

Arma, looking exceedingly amused at the antics to the surprise of everyone other than Taz, chuckled through the speaker of her phone, which was propped up beside her at the head of their tent’s war table, the screen casting the blankets around them in a bluey glow at odds with the orange light of multiple camp lanterns spread around the ten of them—eleven, if you counted Taz’s cell phone.

“those idiots forgot to cover my camera by the tv, so i’ve got an unobstructed visual on the cathedral, general,” he said, arms clasped behind his back and smile wide. “looks to be mostly clear aside from the mutt. he’s guarding the xbox—”

“the mystical artifact,” Comet interrupted, not moving from his spot on top of five pillows, staring dreamily up into the canopy of blankets. The ones adorning their war room were from Blue’s bed, so it did actually look like he was gazing up at a night sky full of stars.

“right, the mystical artifact,” Arma corrected, huffing a little but continuing to play along when General Taz beamed at him, “the rest are probably stationed around the channel of imminent pain or the pit of eternal stench and socks.”

“WHY DID WE EVEN MAKE SUCH AN AWFUL PLACE?” Papyrus cried, shivering at the thought of having to cross the pile of stinky garments, all of which were from the Sanses’ collective sock stockpiles.

“I think Red had thought it would keep Pink and Jazz away from him, but joke’s on him,” Taz said and the other nodded solemnly. Their two best stealth operatives were currently entombed over by The Land of Mostly Couches, which had been cut off during the horrible Couch Cushion Landslide of Ten Minutes Ago. “Captain Broseph is working to dig them out, but it looks like we’ll have to press the attack without them.”

“wait, why does the parasite outrank me?” Rus whined. Taz nearly snorted, but instead decided to sit him with her best scolding glare.

“Because he’s actually contributing to our noble cause, Private Ashes,” she said.

“what if i bribe my commanding officer with offers of future favors?” he teased, grin holding the same promise it had all day.

Taz actually snorted now. “That’s a Court Marshallin’.”

“you loss, boss,” he sighed dramatically, but there was a smile on his face as he leaned back against a pile of cushions from the booths in the lounge.

“Anybody else cruisin’ for a demerit?” Taz laughed.

“is that an option? can i demerit myself into a nap?” Sans asked, raising his hand.

“THAT WOULD BE MORE OF A REWARD THAN A PUNISHMENT FOR YOU,” Tango admonished him.

“WE’RE GETTING OFF TRACK!” Pluto said, reining everyone back in.

“Thank you, Pluto. I’m promoting you to Lieutenant effective immediately,” Taz said, pointing the remote she was using as a quasi-riding crop at the joyful skeleton, who was hunched over to fit in the low-ceilinged area.

“these instant promotions are total anarchy, general,” Remix snickered and she smacked his arm.

“ _So!_ ” she began again, “Strategy.”

“THE CHANNEL OF IMMINENT PAIN IS THE MOST DIRECT ROUTE ,” Blue piped up and Taz nodded.

“You’re right, but it might not be our best option.”

Fort Fun and Victory and Stuff was separated from Outpost No Fun Allowed by three narrowed tunnels: The Pit of Eternal Stench and Socks, the caved-in extra-narrow and dark tunnel of cushions leading to The Land of Mostly Couches, and then finally The Channel of Imminent Pain—so named for being lined with Axe’s itchier-than-sin flannel sheets, which felt more like burlap than anything else. It was the easiest route, and thus the most obvious.

“So it sounds like we should brave The Pit!” Ink said breathlessly, way too into their mock war. Taz nodded again.

“They’ll be expecting that too, but at least we know Chairman Black and Warmonger Edge won’t be there: They wouldn’t put up with the stench. And with Puppy, Lover of Kittens, in the Cathedral, we should really only need to get past Red the Very Cool Barbarian.”

“how do you even remember their stupid titles?” Remix asked, looking entertained regardless.

“They sent over a signed list of demands with a neutral party,” Taz explained, alluding to G, who wasn’t participating in the war and was acting as the go-between. “I ripped that shit up, though. The Commonwealth of Videogames and Napping doesn’t make deals with terrorists!”

“YEAH!” cheered Blue, Papyrus, Tango, Pluto, and Ink.

“what were their demands?” Sans asked and Taz faltered.

“Huh?”

“what were their demands?” Sans repeated, refusing to clarify and grinning cheekily at Taz, who flushed a little under his scrutiny.

“They’re shredded, that’s what they are. Now hush, Classy,” she waved a hand. Her use of nickname was enough to distract Sans as he turned into a flustered mess.

“so the pit it is,” Rus interjected, raising his arm, “all in agreement, say ‘aye.’”

“AYE!” yelled the usual suspects, the others agreeing with their normal level of enthusiasm.

“then let’s move out, troops.”

“ _Heyyy_ , that’s _my_ job!” Taz complained as the rest began to shuffle and crawl into the central area of Fort Fun and Victory and Stuff. While she was shifting to glare down into his face, Rus took advantage of her closeness to pull her down onto the booth cushions and roll over her.

“forgive me, general. it’s just that seeing a woman in charge gets me all _fired up_.”

Taz smirked, recovering quickly from her shock at his forwardness. “Forgiveness denied, you naughty naughterson. You should be focusing on the battle ahead.”

“but i’m just so scared i won’t be able to return home to my best gal. how could i ever think of battle in a time like this?” he teased and Taz laughed.

“So am I your commanding officer of the girl you left back home, Rus? I’m getting conflicting backstories here.”

“whichever one gets you to give me a good luck kiss, honey.”

There was a cough.

“yeah, i’m still here,” came the voice of Arma, glaring at them through Taz’s phone. Her smile turned a little giddy at being caught as she rolled out from under a thoroughly irritated Rus, scooping up her phone and grinning at the surly skeleton. Distantly she heard the click-click-clicking of the lab’s Geiger counter.

“Hey there, Chief Intelligence Officer. You got any last words of encouragement for your General before she ships out?” she giggled, calming him despite his jealous outburst. After a moment the tension in his shoulders relaxed and he smirked smugly back at her. But his eyelights were trained on the skeleton over her shoulder.

“you don’t need encouragement or luck, firecracker. you’ve got me.”

Taz laughed again, “I do!”

“sending battle schematics and an aerial layout of the battlefield to you now. go kick some edgelord ass, sweet-pea.”

“Yes sir— _oof_!” Taz grunted as Rus grabbed her up and threw her over his shoulder before crawling out of the war room, which was surely rather difficult, given the cramped space. Thankfully Arma cutting his scheme short hadn’t truly seemed to dampen Rus’s mood, and when he finally tossed her back down it was into the tallest stack of pillows he could find. No hard feelings, it seemed. That was good.

“Ready for action, General!” Ink barked, totally forgetting to be quiet and clacking a hand so enthusiastically against his forehead in salute that she worried he’d give himself a migraine. The others copied him.

“speech!” Remix called, causing Comet and Sans to also take up his chant, their grins mischievous. Taz flipped herself over and thrust a fist into the air, the central chamber of the Fort being a good deal taller in terms of height.

“ _No time for speeches in war! Let’s retake The Cathedral, reclaim the mystical artifact, and save our comrade_!”

“YEAH!”

“i can hear you, you morons,” came the voice of Red from the path leading to The Pit, just as they’d expected.

“Onwards!”

And they were off! Taz noticed several brave souls setting off down The Channel of Imminent Pain, probably acting as decoys so they could then flank the enemy. Taz gave a silent prayer to the gods watching over their ranks that they didn’t suffer for long from chafes and rug burn.

G was probably the closest they had to a holy patron, though.

Leading the pack headed toward The Pit, Taz found herself feeling oddly weightless the second she’d entered the smelly circular chamber piled high with socks. She gave a bit of a startled yelp as she began to float before being pulled by some unknown magical hand directly into the arms of Red.

Ah, definitely magic hands. She saw his eye crackling with magic as he pinned her arms to her back.

“we agreed no magic, red,” came Sans’s frustrated sigh as he, Rus, Remix, and Comet filtered in. So the more hygienic ones had chosen the sockless route. That made sense.

“you said no magic for fightin’,” Red said, chuckling darkly as he pulled Taz closer and grinned over her shoulder, “you never said nothing 'bout no magic for _lovin_ ’.” Taz snorted, but she didn’t struggle.

“oh no, our fearless leader! could it be true that she’s been caught up in a torrid affair with the enemy?” Comet played along, trying to avoid any actual confrontation.

“He wishes,” Taz laughed. The others relaxed as well when they were sure she wasn’t upset for being tossed around by Red’s magic. “You guys go on ahead, I’ll deal with this one.”

“you sure, tazer?” Remix asked, eyes drifting down to the hands restraining her, which were sliding down to less appropriate places.

“I’ll be fine,” she said, voice chipper, “He’s too much of a chicken to do anything, anyway.” Red made a noise like she’d punched him as the others guffawed at her savageness and began to crawl out toward the middle of the Outpost.

Rus stopped to flick Red on the forehead and wink at Taz before he left too. “see you on the other side, honey.”

Once they were alone, Taz took a breath to apologize to Red for calling him out in front of the others, but it swiftly left her lungs as a gasp instead as he turned her to face him, hands still behind her back, and pulled her into his lap. There was something predatory about the way his eyes scanned her face.

“darlin’, you’re…”

“A bad girl?” Taz supplied for him, and his grin twisted in a way her heart liked quite a bit. Well, her heart and… other places. “You know, I actually _was_ trying to be good today, but you guys keep making me act up.”

“that so? You sayin’ i’m a bad influence on ya?” Red growled, eyelights flickering like a flame. Taz hummed in her throat.

“Something like that.”

“well that suits me fine. why don’t we find out how bad i can influence ya to be, darlin’?” he asked, hands pulling her even further onto his lap. Taz felt herself blushing despite everything.

“You’re much more confident than usual, Fangs. Being surrounded by all this sock smell must be fueling you,” she laughed, but Red didn’t take the bait to keep things on the playful side of flirty, his eyelights dropping to her lips and then her neck.

Stars he had the worst timing. Where was this Red when she had been alone with him any time before? Now wasn’t exactly a good time, even though his touch on the small of her back was practically setting her on fire.

Well. Time to nip this in the bud. For the moment, at least: Her boys still needed her—and it was hard to lead an assault when pinned down in a bed of dirty socks by Red and his suddenly smooth moves.

“It’s the name that’s making you so bold, isn’t it? Sorry Fangs, but I don’t think I can handle screaming ‘Red the Very Cool Barbarian’ in orgasmic ecstasy.”

And again there was the noise like she’d clocked him, but this time she could also see his brain blanking out, the evidence all across his face. She cackled and took advantage of his distracted state to pull free of his grasp. She did feel a little bad though, and paused in her escape to hug his neck before pushing him down. Red fell back onto the mountain of socks like a lead weight.

“Now stay down, big boy. Lest our ‘torrid love affair’ come to light and your teammates string you up for consorting with the enemy,” she laughed, rolling off Red’s lap so she was not longer straddling the poor skeleton.

“don’t worry about that, darlin’. i think you’ve killed me.” He sounded like he was broken.

Taz tasked, “Well that won’t do. I was thinking of sparing you to act as my slave and manservant when we inevitably win, but I suppose I can’t if you were killed in action.”

“don’t threaten me with a good time,” Red growled, giving her one last hungry look before she dumped an armload of socks over his body, effectively burying him.

“Shh, you’re dead, remember? I’ll come exhume your boney butt in a bit,” she said. Red just chuckled, moving his hands behind his head to get comfortable as he watched Taz go, crawling on her hands and knees through The Pit’s exit.

Oh did he watch her go.

Upon entering the main chamber of The Outpost, Taz was immediately yoinked down by her arm, falling less than gracefully across the rest of her troops, who were crowded behind a few overturned tables.

“GENERAL!” Tango cried as Taz pushed herself off of Papyrus’s chest, as he appeared to have been the one to save her from the volley of throw pillows careening over their heads now.

“DID YOU SUCCESSFULLLY DISPATCH OF THE RED MENACE?” Blue asked, several notches louder than even his usual voice, as though he were actually yelling over the hail of gunfire.

Taz flopped onto the floor. “Pfft, I’ll never let him live down the fact he picked ‘Red the Very Cool Barbarian’ over that,” she said before scooting up onto her knees but trying to remain low behind their shelter. “He’s been dealt with. What’s out current situation, Colonel?”

“TAKE A LOOK,” Blue answered gravely, handing over a periscope made from toilet rolls and tiny mirrors. Where had he even kept this?

Remix shifted to allow Taz better access to peek over the table. She gasped, utterly outraged at what she saw.

“A mattress barricade?” she screamed, handing Blue his periscope and shaking her fist at Black and Edge, who were sitting smugly, and thoroughly protected, behind an impressive, but very illegal, bulwark of mattresses. “You dirty, cheating bastards!”

“IF THESE DEFENSES ARE OUTSIDE THE BOUNDARIES OF WHAT’S ALLOWED, LET THE NEUTRAL PARTY SPEAK,” she heard Black crow, the victorious smirk clear in his voice even though he couldn’t be seen.

“G? We need a ruling.”

Somewhere outside the confines of the blanket fort, Taz heard G set down the book he was reading and laugh lightly. “Sorry Angel, you said mattresses were fair game as building materials.”

“Yeah— _building materials_ ,” Taz whined, “Not for defenses!”

“AND WHAT IS THIS RAMPART IF NOT SOME FORM OF STRUCTURE?” That was Edge, also sounding like he had his wrists pinned to his hips and nose raised as he looked down on them. “DO NOT BE UPSET FOR BEING OUTSMARTED, HUMAN! WE ARE SIMPLY ON ANOTHER STRATEGIC LEVEL: ONE YOU COULD NEVER EVEN DREAM TO ASCERTAIN!”

“Strategy my ass,” Taz grumbled, pride wounded, as she tugged her phone free of her pocket, “Well we’ve still got a few tricks up our sleeves.”

Arma popped up onto her screen as she opened his app. “hey there, sweet-pea. how goes the battle?” he asked, as though he were a parent asking their child how school was that day.

“Bad, Geiger. You must not have been able to see it from how the camera was positioned, But Black and Edge set up defenses outside The Cathedral,” Taz said, noticing his smile twitching a little at the corners.

“heh, that’s some bad luck,” he replied, his grin twisting more. Very slightly.

“We need another way in. Suggestions?”

“hmm, it seems pretty hopeless. sorry firecracker, you should just surrender. i can’t see any way of getting past that mattress barricade.”

Taz stopped, eyes narrowing. “Didn’t mention a mattress barricade, now did I?” Arma snickered, his bones lighting up neon-green as he failed to contain his laughter. “You betrayed us!” Taz breathed.

Removing his hands from behind his back, Arma revealed a tricorn hat, which he then placed upon his head. “just call me benedict arnold.”

There were several gasps of horror around her as she stuck out her bottom lip in a childish pout.

“Your team’s theme is totally incoherent! Pick something and stick to it!” Taz yelled at Black and Edge, who merely cackled at her as she turned back to Arma. “Geiger, how could you?”

“sorry, sweetheart. i never said i was above bribery.”

Taz slumped dejectedly back onto the floor in sadness, Pluto patting her head kindly. She gave Arma her best puppy eyes, but he was enjoying the situation too much to be swayed by her piteous looks alone.

“What did they offer you? What could be worth more than our noble purpose or my undying affection?” she moped.

“well if it makes you feel any better, _you_ were the bribe,” Arma responded cheekily, holding up a picture of Taz herself: asleep on one of the living room couches, her hoodie dress riding up to expose all of her leg and the majority of her ass.

Taz blushed all over despite being fairly sure Arma had witnessed more of her through the camera feed pointed at her front window before she’d met him. Maybe not as high quality, though.

“ _Black_!” Taz shrieked, lifting her head over the edge of the table just enough to glare at the tiny tyrant, but not enough to earn a projectile to the face.

“MWEH HEH HEH!” he laughed, sounding like a pint-sized movie villain. Sans glanced at Taz’s phone before Arma could hide the photo and whistled lowly.

“stars, sweetheart. why’d you even let the twerp take that picture?”

Taz grunted in irritation, “I didn’t! We were watching trashy human reality shows one morning before you lot were awake and I passed out. He told me he was keeping it as blackmail.”

“yeah, blackmail,” Rus scoffed, not believing that for a second.

“Geiger.”

“yes, general?” Arma asked, eyelights dancing with mischief. It wasn’t about the picture, it was about showing the others he was serious.

“If you wanted that stupid pervy photo so bad, you could have just asked. Black texted me a copy.”

Now Arma stopped laughing, looking properly shell-shocked. “wait, what?”

“Yeah, I said I’d let him keep it without fuss if he sent me a copy for myself,” she explained. Arma waved his hands to say she’d misunderstood him.

“no, you mean you’d have just given it to me if i asked? just like that?”

Taz shrugged, still pouting. “Well yeah. I trust you not to use it to hurt me, not like Black.” Conflict passed over Arma’s face.

“you… trust me?”

Taz huffed and glared at him childishly. “Well not any more, you dirty traitor.” She moved to turn off her phone.

“wait, sweet-pea—”

“Nope, later!” she said quickly, powering down her phone. Now it only reflected her grin, wicked with the knowledge that she’d made him deeply regret turning on her. She’d let him stew for a little while before forgiving him.

Remix laughed deeply, “tazer, that was cold-blooded.” He must know she wasn’t actually that angry; well, he did know her the best.

“WE GROW BORED,” Black barked, annoyed they were ignoring him, “ATTACK OR SUURENDER!”

“ _Never give up_!” Taz cheered instinctively, but was met with silence until Comet answered her call.

“never surrender,” he responded indulgently.

“Hey, well at least you know it,” she giggled. “Alright men, let’s go: head-on assault. No items, Fox only, Final Destination! We die like men!”

“i’d rather die like a skeleton,” Rus quipped. Taz pushed his face.

“Then go join Red in his sock burial mound; that seems to be the traditional way,” she said before standing, followed by Blue, Papyrus, Pluto, Tango, and Ink. “GG no re! _Charge_!”

Without the help of their main intelligence officer Arma, it was annoyingly clear that Black and Edge were definitely the better strategists. The only thing Taz and her troops had going for them was numbers, since no one wanted to enlist with The Ministry of Misery unless contractually obligated by brotherhood.

Well, The Commonwealth of Videogames and Napping also had spirit. No one on Taz’s side lacked drive when she sat them with her radiant, encouraging grin.

Still, the savage battle eventually went to The Ministry. The turning point had come when Red the Very Cool Barbarian had mysteriously risen from the dead and attacked their flank. He’d been very happy with himself about it, likely thinking something inappropriate about taking Taz from behind, and his good mood had helped him make short work of the others, leaving them “incapacitated” before Black and Edge’s mattress ramparts. It appeared they’d also called in reinforcements, as Dust was now standing before her line of troops, staring them down silently, as though daring them to try to break free to reach her.

She, as the General of the losing party, had been brought directly before Chairman Black and Warmonger Edge to answer for their collective crimes.

“YOU STAND BEFORE THE TRIBUNAL FOR THE MINISTRY OF MISERY,” Black said, presiding over them like the little lord he was, stood atop several cushions to match Edge’s height. It did look rather silly though, for mutlitple reasons; not the least of which being because it made the top of his skull scrape across the ceiling of the blanket fort.

“the court will now be called to order to determine the fate of the leading military officer for the commonwealth of stupid things for babybones,” Mutt continued, standing to the side to act as bailiff.

“THE COMMONWEALTH OF VIDEOGAMES AND NAPPING!” Papyrus corrected him saucily. Mutt merely blinked.

“that does sound rad,” he said, before being smacked on the back of his skull by his brother, “but you’re basically the commonwealth of nothing now, paps.”

“THIS IS STUPID, JUST SKIP TO THE PUNISHMENT!” Edge complained loudly.

“she’s gotta be found guilty before punishment, boss,” Red said carefully, earning himself an icy glare. Edge eventually calmed and waved a hand at Mutt to continue.

“WHATEVER.”

“general taz, you stand accused of leading a violent, illegal insurgency against the rightful ruling class in outpost no fun allowed. how do you plead?” Mutt asked, smirking at the pout on her face.

“I plead falsely accused, that’s how,” she spat, “We were in the middle of an intense study of the mystical artifact when you jerks came through and kicked us off.”

“YOU CAN PLAY YOUR STUPID VIDEOGAMES AT ANY TIME. METTATON’S SHOW ONLY AIRS AT SPECIFIC TIMES!” Edge sent right back, somehow not denying her accusation but still, in his eyes, remaining in the right.

“Playing Mettaton’s show in the living room for everyone to endure is a human rights violation akin to torture,” Taz responded, causing several snickers throughout the blanket fort, “So, if anything, The Ministry is responsible for any insurrection on our part.”

“AHA, SO YOU DON’T DENY LEADING A REBELLION!” Black said, sounding very much like he’d caught her.

“Wait, is that really what we were debating? Just whether or not I did it?”

“OBVIOUSLY.”

“Ok then yeah, that all definitely did happen,” Taz snorted, not willing to sit here all day and argue with these four about whether or not the past hour and half had been real or not.

“THEN YOU PLEAD GUILTY.” Edge and Black said in unison, posing with their hands on their hips in the exact same way and leaning toward her victoriously.

Honestly, it was crazy that they were still trying to deny that they were all the same people at this point. They were like mirror images of each other.

“I suppose. Whatever gets this farce over with.”

“YOUR IRREVERENT TONE WILL DO YOU NO FAVORS,” Edge scowled at her, “NOW FOR—”

“PUNISHMENT!” Black growled, his smile overtaking his face. Taz wasn’t terribly worried, despite him looking a good deal more intimidating than she wanted to admit. After all, she was under no obligation to behave; the worst that would come of it was making Edge and Black angry, which was their baseline anyway.

“m’lord, did you forget something?” Mutt interjected, pulling a slip of paper from his pocket and waving it a little toward his brother. Black stopped, glaring at Mutt with loathing.

“I DIDN’T FORGET,” he maintained, “I WAS MERELY QUESTIONING THE WISDOM OF LETTING SUCH A DANGEROUS MISCREANT GET OFF SO EASY.”

“DO NOT FORGET THAT THE MINISTRY IS NOT A DICTATORSHIP,” Edge warned Black, “YOU ALONE DO NOT DECIDE THINGS OF THIS IMPORTANCE. WE AGREED ON OUR TERMS TOGETHER, AND THEY ARE A FITTING PUNISHMENT.”

“Ugh, don’t tell me—”

“that’s right, kitten. our peace terms are now your punishment,” Mutt smirked down at her, trying to hand her the paper.

“I know what it says,” Taz scoffed, refusing to take it, “You all can piss off if you think I’m going along with that.”

“come on, kitten. my bro can do a lot worse than this,” Mutt whispered in her ear under the guise of forcing the paper into her hands. Taz stuck out her tongue at him, but he just grinned.

“I don’t know how that’s possible.”

“YOU ARE IN NO POSITION TO DECIDE THAT,” Black said. Then Edge spoke up, after conferring with Red.

“WE SHALL, AS MY IDIOT BROTHER SAID, ‘SWEETEN THE DEAL.’” he said, using air quotes before pointing at Taz and glaring, “ACCEPT OUR TERMS AND WE SHALL RELEASE OUR CAPTIVE TO YOU.”

Now Taz stopped her whining, face softening for an instant before scowling again. What a dirty trick—they knew she’d agree now. It wasn’t “sweetening the deal” at all: it was extortion!

She glared directly at Red, who just raised his browbones at her suggestively and winked. “You know I can’t say no now. Fine, release Jaws and I’ll agree to your stupid terms.”

“sweetheart, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” Sans spoke behind her before Dust moved to stand in front of him and block her view.

“Hey, it’s ok. Not a big deal,” she assured the others, who all looked rather uncertain given her outright refusal only moments before. “Alright, now take me to Nibbles. I want to see he’s ok first.”

Red came over to lift her by her arms even though she wasn’t restrained—just using it as an excuse to pull her close to his side as he led her over to where they were keeping Jaws.

“MISS TAZ!” He smiled at her, still in his precious teddy bear onesie, and she waved back.

“Hi sweetie, sorry the rescue mission took so long!”

“OH, THAT’S ALRIGHT!” he said, “I’M KEEPING SA—AXE COMPANY IN THE BRIG!” Taz glared at Edge and Black again, who had followed

“You have him in _the brig_?” she seethed. The others didn’t seem impressed.

“OBVIOUSLY. HE WAS A PRISONER,” Black responded, looking bored. Taz released a long, loud sigh—whatever, it wasn’t worth fighting with them over it. The important thing was that Jaws didn’t look any worse for wear.

“’was’ a prisoner?” came another voice, and Taz glanced around until she found Axe, who was still sitting on the same couch he had been all day—just as he’d promised her he would—but now under a cardboard box with slats cut into it to look like cell bars.

“Heya Killer. Sorry, the pardon’s just for your brother. I at least hope your box is comfy,” Taz quipped, smiling at his crossed arms and irritated scowl.

“MUTT, GO RETRIEVE THE SHACKLES FOR OUR NEW _GUEST_ ,” Black instructed, Mutt vanishing a moment later. The way he said the word “guest” wasn’t friendly. It was about as friendly as the word “shackles.”

“Ugh, I was really hoping that part of the terms wasn’t literal,” Taz grumbled as Red motioned for Jaws to stand and follow him. She felt eyes boring into her, and turned back to see Axe staring her down. “What’s up, dude?”

“so that’s why they’re letting my bro leave. they blackmailed you into agreeing to their demands.”

Taz shrugged, “I guess just blame it on me being predictable. They knew I’d do it.” Red chuckled, but Axe wasn’t amused.

“this whole thing is pointless. why give in to something you obviously don’t want to when you could have just come over to get my bro. or just leave him—it’s not like he’s in any actual danger.”

“Well sure,” Taz said, smile a little coy, “But that’s the fun of the game, Killer.” He didn’t respond.

“yeah, _it is_ supposed to be fun,” came the voice of Sans as he and a few others entered the chamber.

“YOU ARE NOT TO ENTER HERE!” Edge yelled, “YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE INCAPACITATED!”

“edge, simmer down,” said Comet, “we were doing all of this because it was something fun to get all our minds off the weather. and now you’re trying to coerce the person who set it all up, just cause she wanted to help us. you should be ashamed.”

“HOW DARE—”

“Guys, you don’t—”

“he’s right.”

Everyone stopped arguing and turned to Axe, who was still looking as surly as ever, but there was something unusual about how his eyelights wavered as he looked at Taz.

“she was just trying to help. don’t ruin everything by being an ungrateful ass.”

Taz had to cover her mouth with her hand so she wouldn’t laugh. But honestly, she couldn’t feel anything but warm feelings over the whole situation. It was still a good time, despite where they’d ended up.

“Hey, tell you what,” she began, drawing the others’ eyes, “Let’s go back to being one united country—not a truce, but a reunification. And— _and_ ,” she had to talk over Black and Edge balking at her proposal, “If you agree to that, I’ll keep my word by agreeing to _your_ terms. But in my own way. Deal?”

Edge and Black glanced at one another, knowing they were losing quite a bit by letting her amend the terms to suit her. But they also knew that, should they refuse, the others would just put an end to everything altogether.

At least this way they still got something.

Call it a consolation prize.

“WE AGREE,” they said, once more in unison.

Taz grinned brightly. “Excellent! Now let’s go back to The Cathedral and do something we can all enjoy.”

As it turned out, something they could _all_ enjoy was basically an impossible feat. The only thing that really fit the bill were Herb’s old home videos.

Most found it cute to see Taz as a kid, and the meaner ones told themselves they’d use it as fuel to turn against her. But everyone could appreciate the video from their travels, as Herb had taken her all over the world when she was young; she wouldn’t tell them why he’d felt it necessary to do so, as that would kill the mood, so she left it at that. It was nice to show them something of the world they weren’t able to experience firsthand.

Someday she’d be able to get them out there. She wouldn’t give up on that goal.

After several more hours, the last light of day was leaving The Cathedral, so named for being the tallest chamber in the blanket fort in order to accommodate the gigantic movie theater-sized screen the tv was projected onto. The home videos had since been switched out for some newly released movie—something mindless. Everyone was feeling sleepy, Taz included, who was leaning against a stack of cushions, Blue and Papyrus on either side of her and chatting idly.

Taz felt someone move the pillows behind her to instead slide against her back. Looking back and expecting Red and Rus, or—hell—even Sans, Taz was very surprised.

“Well hey, Dustbunny.”

Dust was silent as usual, staring into her face, eyes pulsing red and purple like always. But now they looked… almost calm. Slower.

“I’m glad you came by today, even if it was to help ruin my assault. I think it all turned out for the best though, don’t you?”

More silence, but Taz was used to it. On the rare occasion Dust was allowed to come to the lodge from the island, he basically never spoke outside of the intermittent word or grunt.

“It’s nice to have us all together like this. I wish you were allowed to stay here for longer, I miss you when you have to head back.”

She was used to talking to fill the void around him, not expecting any back-and-forth or, really, any indication he was even listening. So now she was caught off guard by the almost… tender look on his face.

“Dustbunny, you ok th--!!”

Taz was cut off by Dust moving a finger under her chin and lowering his skull, leaving a surprisingly chaste kiss on her mouth, open in utter shock. An uncomfortable quiet settled around the room, someone having muted the movie, as Taz assumed everyone turned to look at them.

Dust pulled back after merely an instant, his usually unmoving grin very slightly cheekier in response to the look on her face, before he addressed the rest of the lodge.

“there, it’s done. now all you morons can stop fighting to be first.”

And then he’d teleported away, probably back to the island complex, and Taz fell ungracefully onto the floor with a grunt. She had a moment of peaceful silence. Just a moment.

But then the room exploded around her.

So much for a calm evening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And please remember to go check out Sanuit_2526's story [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16251485/chapters/37996310)! She has a new chapter up, which is in my queue to be read! So exicted!!  
> Also, JoMcIntosh has a great swap!Paps story [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14592375/chapters/33723786) that I recommend checking out!
> 
> As always, if you've got a story you're working on, drop me a comment to let me know! I'm always looking for new stories to read. (And for those that have recently sent me links, I'm working through reading them now! I've been a little busier than usual the past while, with the holidays and cosplay.)


	15. Spring: Chilling with Classic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeeyyyy everyone. A little bashful about it now, but first, as always, I want to thank everyone for their lovely kudos/comments/views on the last chapter. It was definitely a personal favorite. And now: a little explanation for my absence, and an apology. 
> 
> I’ve been wanting to apologize for my absence, but AO3 doesn’t have a super convenient way to communicate outside of author’s notes and such, since I like to keep comment replies as just that. I’m doing ok, but December was a super stressful month for me and I fell behind in my writing. And then I got distracted with making Christmas gifts for friends/coworkers (everyone got handmade scarves!), as well as cosplays for Ohayocon (which you may have noticed if you follow me on tumblr; check links in the end notes if you haven't). I was really sweating from leaving all you lovely people basically on read for the past few weeks, so I’m gonna be getting back on my schedule here now and I’ll try to communicate better on tumblr with updates or unexpected delays. 
> 
> So it’s just been a bit of a hectic time in my life rn, and I tend to get nervous when pressured, like I mentioned a few chapters ago when we started the Spring arc. Basically, if I don't have anything prepared ahead of my deadline, I just. won't. write. for whatever reason; I just lose all my nerve and straight up won't do it. So, that said, I'm going to be moving this story back to updates every other week, just until I have enough content prepared that I don't find myself in this situation again. I'm shooting for being at least 3 chapters ahead, but the 5 I was at during the prologue would make me feel a lot better (before I even published, I already had the chapter up through introducing Fresh drafted). Once I'm comfortably ahead again, we'll go back to weekly updates, or more, after then.
> 
> But I truly, TRULY thank everyone for being patient with me, sending me encouragement, or checking up on me (special shout out to [redsnow100](https://redsnow100.tumblr.com/)on tumblr for making sure I was ok last week). I hope I haven't lost anyone's faith in me, but if I have, I promise to do better now. I lose my way sometimes, but knowing I have your support helps me remember why I keep on keeping on. <3
> 
> **Next chapter on February 4th. For now, please enjoy this fluffy, flirty chapter! (apologies for any syntax errors, since this only got one editing session)

**The Human Soul on Fire**

_Chapter 15- Chilling with Classic_

 

Taz is fairly certain Dust would be pleased with the chaos he’d caused if he could witness it. But honestly, she was _also fairly certain_ he’d predicted all the other skeletons’ responses to him kissing her well before even doing so, and that that had been exactly what he was going for.

He was quiet, but he was sneaky.

It had taken forever for everyone to calm down—but even then, Taz was actually just _assuming_ they had, since she’d had to fall asleep in a pile with Papyrus, Blue, and Pluto long before Red had stopped bitching. No one left though, which was either a rare showing of maturity for some of them or simply no one wanting to brave the loud, stormy night alone; when it wasn’t filled with the shrieks and complaints of nearly twenty skeletons, the blanket fort was nearly as silent as it was cozy. And as it was, Taz ended up sleeping straight through til morning, awakened only by Papyrus and Blue stirring at 6 A.M., as per usual.

“Morning, guys,” Taz yawned, smiling sleepily and laughing a tinkling little laugh at their blushing faces. She stretched, trying not to pop her back but ultimately failing, before disentangling herself from the others and crawling haphazardly toward a wall of the fort to draw back the sheets and blink at the outside world through the nearby window.

“Is It Still Storming?” asked Blue in a politely soft voice. Taz sighed and nodded, rubbing a hand along the back of her neck and then her face.

“Yeah. Sorry, baby,” she replied, then fell back onto an adjacent pile of pillows. A slight “oof” startled her, and she hurriedly attempted to push herself off the chest of Sans, who was equally as surprised to have been awoken by the landlady falling across him, but not terribly upset by it.

“hey taz.”

“Oh my gosh! Sans, I’m sorry!” she breathed, trying to keep her voice down as she continued to scramble to find some purchase with which to lift herself off the poor skeleton. Sans was more than willing to let her off easy—but then his grin turned a little sly when he noticed the blush on her cheeks, a little darker than he was used to seeing.

It seems Dust kissing her hadn’t just affected the others, himself included. Maybe _she too_ was caught off guard by it all and wasn’t quite sure what to do about it.

“you don’t gotta go apologizing to me, sweetheart,” he said, folding his hands behind his head and quirking a brow. He was just trying to tease her, but felt even more rewarded for it when she had to cover her face with the floppy, overly long sleeve of the sweater she was wearing—Sans vaguely remembered Rus giving his pullover to her at some point last night.

Shy wasn’t her usual look, but Sans couldn’t deny how… cute it was on her.

Meanwhile, Taz’s brain was leaking coherent thought like a sieve at the appraising look she was being sat with. In fact, basically the only thought she _could_ retain was just how much the usually reserved, less-than-flirty skeleton resembled Rus or Red in that moment. The will-he/won’t-he smirk. The casual teasing. The implication in his eyes.

Oh she was in trouble. Two had been enough…

But now, following Dust opening the proverbial floodgates, it was clear there would be others.

“Your _brother_ is here. And awake,” was all she said in response to Sans, smacking his leg as he pushed his luck and tried to hook it around her knee to bring her back down on top of him.

_Later then_ , he let his eyelights do the talking for him. She got the message just fine, if he was interpreting the tiny, muffled whine in her throat correctly.

“Miss Ana, Why Does It Have To Rain So Much On The Surface?” Papyrus drew her attention, imitating Blue’s softer tone. Taz fell back onto her butt, Sans following her to sit up straight in his pillow pile as her hand, still clenched in his hoodie, tugged against him.

She looked contemplative before answering, “Well you know what they say, Bunny: ‘April showers bring May flowers.’”

Blue and Papyrus shared a look, along with Pluto, who was waking too. Taz huffed a small laugh, her smile gentle.

“So all the rain in April makes it easier for flowers to bloom in May. The harder it storms, the more beautiful the spring season—which is a nice comfort to think of, even if these storms are kind of scary. Make sense?”

Papyrus tapped his chin in thought, “I Suppose That _Does_ Make Sense. And I _Do_ So Enjoy Pretty Flowers.”

“There’s always a rainbow after every storm cloud,” Taz said brightly, “You’ve just got to look for it.”

Sans wasn’t so sure that was true, but the sentiment seemed to assuage the concerns of the others, so he was grateful for Taz’s attempt regardless. So now, maybe, he should show her some mercy himself.

“hey kid, we should get you back home,” Sans muttered as a few more of his lodgemates looked to be waking as well, “let the _dust_ settle and all that.”

Taz startled, realizing that Sans meant she’d have to deal with some very surly skeletons shortly if she stuck around much longer. Maybe a day away from everyone would do them—and herself—some good; sorting out feelings, deciding how to move forward. That kind of thing.

She nodded to Sans, silent but emphatic in her agreement.

“i can take ya.” And Sans extended his hand to her. Since he didn’t appear to be moving to stand at all, Taz quickly filled in the blanks and figured he meant to teleport with her.

Taz grabbed his hand immediately, intertwining her fingers with his as he tugged her back against his chest, his other hand winding around her waist as she clung to his small, skeletal form.

“I’ll see you guys in a bit!” Taz whispered to Blue, Papyrus, and Pluto, who waved to her in complete understanding. Thankful for them being so sweet, Taz blew them all a kiss with her free hand.

“hold on and don’t let go for anything, sweetheart,” Sans mumbled against the top of her head, his voice rumbling against her cheek like a purring cat. Taz simply nodded once more, knowing that if she spoke her voice would betray the thrill running through her body.

In another second they were somewhere else.

And it wasn’t her cabin.

No, this place was nowhere.

The place was nothingness. It was a creeping coldness. A slinking, suffocating sluggishness—like being submerged in wet, sticky mud. But mud of the darkest, deepest, emptiest black.

Taz stuck to Sans with everything in her as her vision itself seemed to dissolve and fade—unraveling at the edges like Arma’s eyelights, so diffuse and unfocused.

Closer the darkness crept. Harder it pressed on her sight. Like tentacles. Like hands slipping over her eyes to obscure the world.

Dark.

Darker.

Yet darker.

…

And then, suddenly: sensation.

A sense of fullness, wholeness, completeness once more.

And of rain.

Taz peeked her head out of the place she’d buried her face, which seemed to have been Sans’s sternum. They were now just outside her cabin, sitting on her tiny front porch in the same position as they’d been before departing from the living room—just some hundred yards behind her. She took a moment to swallow the lump clogging her throat, focusing on the rain beading against the smooth surface of Sans’s skull, the drops sliding down his rounded face and dripping onto the fibers of his already darkening, dampening t-shirt. His eyelights, trained on her, unmoving, were what finally anchored her once more back to the physical world, and not that plane of nowhere they’d travelled through.

“Wow,” Taz gulped in another lungful of icy, soggy air when her brain reminded her to breathe. Sans dropped his head back against her front door as he relaxed, but his arm remained protectively around her, his hand still in hers and thumb brushing lightly, reassuringly, over her knuckles.

“so was it everything you’d hoped for?” he quipped, despite his constant, insistent reassurance subconsciously advising her he was aware how off-kilter she’d been knocked.

“Oh, I don’t know—maybe? I’m a ‘lights on’ kinda girl: I usually like to be able to see what’s going on,” Taz kept the banter up and her heart felt a little lighter as Sans’s permanent grin turned at the edge with authenticity.

“i’ll keep that in mind,” Sans muttered, moving his hand from her waist to pat down her wet hair, her hat still back in the laundry room with her clothes from yesterday. She’d never remembered to move them to the dryer and would probably need to rewash them now to get the mustiness out. “ok sweetheart, let’s get you inside.”

“Yes please,” Taz agreed, lifting herself up and feeling the need once more to stretch and pop her shoulders. She tugged out her keyring and unlocked the cabin, taking a moment to mentally giggle at Sans, a true gentleman, for not simply teleporting directly into her house, even though he could. She turned back to him only once it was apparent he wasn’t following her in. “Sans?”

He hummed at her and she smiled on one side of her mouth, waving him over her doorstep. “Please come in. I’m…” she faltered, trying to find the right words, “I can’t really be around _everyone_ right now, but I’d still rather not… be… alone? I guess?”

Sans stared, rain dribbling and pattering against his skull as he tried to process this new, nervous Taz.

“That is! That is, if you don’t have work to do. Is today a lab day? Why can I never remember the schedule—” She flopped her arms around in Rus’s oversized pullover, searching all her pockets for her phone so she could pull up the shift calendar in Arma’s app.

Finally, feeling his smile loosen and his SOUL glow just a little, Sans entered the cabin and snatched the phone she’d finally pulled from the pocket in Axe’s sweatpants and carried it over to where he knew she kept her charger. He heard her, quietly, shut the door after him a few moments later.

“you don’t gotta be anxious, sweetheart. i don’t think any of us are really thinkin’ about work today—well maybe error, but that’s kind of a given.” Taz released a little sigh as she rocked from foot to foot, acting like the unsure guest in her own home.

“I should change,” she finally resolved after glancing at the floor for only a moment, “Would you like something too? I know you can’t catch cold, but…” She trailed off. Sans shrugged, slipping off his hoodie to hang on the coatrack and kicking off his shoes by her front door.

“this’ll dry fine, but i’ll take you up on another shirt if you’re offering.”

Taz nodded with a smile much more familiar to him before slipping into room, tossing him something from her dresser, and then clicking her door shut again to change. Sans argued internally with himself for a solid thirty seconds on whether he should change in the living room, where he had the chance for Taz to _accidentally_ walk in on him without a shirt—he’d seen the look of curiosity and, if was very lucky, _intrigue_ that had entered her eyes when she’d fallen across his chest that morning; and damn if part of him didn’t want to test those waters.

But right now it seemed like what she really wanted was a friend. Someone to help her reorient after the haze of emotional confusion the previous night had left her in.

And, as much as Sans might want to be more than a friend for her, he wasn’t going to take advantage of Taz’s more vulnerability this morning.

When Taz reentered the living room, instantly missing the comfort of her borrow clothes from Axe and Rus but settling for her own pajamas, she was a little disappointed to find Sans changing in the bathroom. But she was thankful too.

For now.

Besides… It wasn’t like she was going anywhere. They had time.

Which is why, when he rejoined her, her first words were: “Next time, make sure you leave the door open a crack. You’re making me work too hard to snag a peek at you.”

And so, with the mood once more restored to their usual easy back-and-forth, Taz and Sans spent the next few hours simply hanging out in her cabin. At some point, Taz remembered that she hadn’t yet eaten and had pulled some leftover pizza out for them from her near-barren fridge. She had Netflix queued up on her tv and they were idly flipping through some documentaries; at some point, their conversation became more interesting than what was on the tv, so the app was allowed to freely cycle through whatever was recommended.

It wasn’t until the documentary on space came up that Taz grew uncomfortable.

Glancing between the screen, the empty pizza box and pop cans littering the steamer trunk she used as a coffee table, and, finally, Sans’s easy grin and drooping eyes, Taz decided something in her found this too…

…too what?

She didn’t have a word to describe it but one.

It was too… familiar?

Her fingers were reaching to change over to a random anime before the rest of her could comprehend she was doing it. Sans seemed nonplussed, simply carrying on with whatever thought he was airing; Taz tried to tune back in, but managed to catch him as he was apparently changing gears.

“so kid.”

“Hmm, no one here by that nickname, Classy,” Taz gave him a cheeky grin, even as something in her twisted. Sans seemed to realize the same, returning her smile.

“my bad, sweetheart,” he corrected, his skull shifting to look at her head-on and eyelids lowering. Taz scooted to press her back into the armrest of the couch, drawing up a knee but keeping her other foot within nudging-range of Sans’s legs.

“I’m listening,” she prodded, to which Sans seemed to remember himself, casting a long look out over her cabin and smile slipping a little.

“so i owe you an apology,” he began again, then turned to look into her suddenly serious face, “and an explanation.”

“Are we getting heavy now?”

Sans huffed a little, trying to look as at-ease as possible for her sake. “nah, not really. but i’ve needed to do this for a while and it’s hard to get you on your own. i’ll try to keep it short though—i know you’ve had a bit of a day and you’re tired.”

“Thoughtful of you.” The coy little grin on Taz’s face was facetious, but her tone was genuine. Honestly, she probably already knew what he was getting at here.

“not sure if remix already said, but i’m the one to blame for what happened on your first night here,” Sans started with the apology, because it was the part that was harder for him—mostly because talking about that night made his own SOUL flutter when he remembered it: seeing hers, almost silvery white and slightly bigger than a monster’s; feeling her emotions roll off her, huge and chaotic, like they were being magnified by an electron microscope; unexpectantly resonating with her SOUL when it shouldn’t really have been possible for anyone other than Remix and Tango.

“He didn’t, but I… kinda assumed,” she said, then, when he gave her a quizzical look, “You’re kind of the guy in charge around here, Classy.”

Sans wasn’t sure why, but he felt himself taking that as a compliment, and blushing in response. “a-anyway,” he continued, diverting his eyes again, “he did it because i told him to; it seems really stupid now, but there was something about you i couldn’t place and—”

Sans stopped himself, realizing he was derailing his own apology with a lame excuse. But, as always, Taz seemed to understand him even when he didn’t deserve it.

“You had to be sure I wasn’t going to hurt anyone here. Especially Papyrus,” she finished for him, nodding, “I get it, Sans.”

He shook his head, “i’m not trying to justify it, sweetheart. i’m sorry.” She shrugged.

“I know you aren’t: You’re just explaining it. And I get it.”

“doesn’t make it right.”

“Well no, but you’ve been making it up to me ever since then. So it’s ok _now_.”

Sans lifted his eyes to hers and asked, “i have?”

She giggled at his surprise, wondering how she could possibly understand another person’s actions better than they themselves did. “Well yeah! Should I make a list of all the sweet things you help me with and do for me because you’ve wanted to say sorry? But who knows, maybe I’ve just been misconstruing your intentions.”

It was a tease, but still Sans shook his head, laying a hand on her leg and locking eyes with her.

“this is _my_ apology, sweetheart. so let me just say, with everything that i have, that i will never let that happen again—not from me, or anyone else in this house. you will never again feel unwelcome or unsafe here: i give you my word.”

Taz let his words sit between them for a moment before, carefully, leaning forward to encircle his neck in her arms, pulling him closer even as she felt him trying not to let himself sink into her embrace.

“Sans,” she said, voice soft against the side of his head, “I’m not… really good at understanding how I feel sometimes—ask Remix, he’ll tell you—but, even then, I _know_ , despite everything and all the shit that may have happened at first, that I am _so incredibly happy_ to be back here. Especially because of all of you.”

Sans made a noise of slight uncertainty, so she drew him closer.

“And I _also know_ that you’re the kind of person who isn’t going to take me at my word for something like that. Because something in your past, whatever it was, has made you uncertain of everything—makes you paranoid. You don’t want to believe I can forgive you, because maybe you don’t even think you deserve it. You might think you could never earn my trust back,” Taz forged on, refusing to release him, “Which is why you’re going to try to argue when I say: You never lost my trust to begin with. I was never truly upset with you.”

For a moment, Taz could almost hear Sans suck in a breath to start his rebuttal but, upon realizing she’d predicted his exact response, let it go and finally returned her hug.

“I’ll stay right here, just like this, until you believe me,” she finished, tightening her hold even more, “But please, let’s move past it all… because this is starting to hurt my back.”

She felt his chuckle more than she heard it: reverberating against his ribs under the My Hero Academia shirt she’d lent him and seeming to seep into her own body from how closely she was holding him. After another moment, he drew back and she let him go this time, but they remained near one another—content to be in each other’s company, and, now at least, more comfortable with casual contact and these little touches.

Taz thought she saw something pass in Sans’s eyelights, almost as if, from her closeness, she could see his very thoughts buzzing around in his skull.

Sure enough, he spoke a few seconds later, his tone hesitant again, “there was something else, too.”

“Oh?”

“yeah, this is more about… all of us.”

Taz lifted her head from reclining sideways against the back of the couch, tilting her face questioningly as she searched Sans’s face. Could he really be wanting to talk about—

“i’m pretty sure you already know this, but i need to be more honest about how all of us in the lodge—and on the island—are related.”

Holy shit, he really was!

“we’re not _exactly_ family,” he continued, fingers idly toying with the zipper pull of her hoodie and eyes settling somewhere around her shoulders, as if he might find the right words to explain it tattooed into the skin of her neck. “so we’re actually… the same two people, either a sans or a papyrus, just from different dimensions. or _universes_ , might be the better way to say it.”

Yes! She knew it!

“we were… _brought_ here by error”—the way he said the word made it sound like an intentional, if not unwilling, misnomer—“and we’re stuck here until— _heh_ —well, suffice it to say we can’t get back to our own realities for now.”

Oh. She didn’t know _that_.

“i can’t really get into it much more than that, because it involves our work in the lab,” he seemed angry that he wasn’t able to elaborate more on it, but Taz wasn’t surprised, since even Arma had avoided her questions—and he wasn’t really the type to respect any authority’s wishes for secrecy, so if even he was being tight-lipped about their work, there was a reason. “but what i can say is that, kinda like you said, _despite everything and all the shit that may have happened at first_ , i’m… happy it at least got us you.”

Taz’s breath caught in her throat and Sans seemed to realize he’d revealed a little too much.

“got us to meet you, that is.”

“Uh—uh, I’m happy too!” Taz stuttered, uncharacteristically bashful in the face of his honesty and unguarded, if accidental, slip of sincerity.

Her SOUL was beating like a real heart might, which was not something she could say she’d ever really felt before. At least, not in reaction to a situation like this. As her eyes found his, those pinpricks of light almost dilating, going a little fuzzy around the edges, Taz was a mix of emotions. Or desires.

Strongest was the want. She wanted to kiss Sans, but that wasn’t new. She wanted to do a lot more than that too, but it all came from the same place. The same want.

But even more meddlesome than her want was her… conflict? She was holding herself back now, whereas, if presented this circumstance at any time previous to today, she’d have reacted without a single thought to the contrary.

As Taz stared deep into Sans’s eyes, watching as they grew more and more unfocused despite never breaking contact with her own, she couldn’t stop the images of the other skeletons from popping up into her mind.

Rus.

Red.

Comet.

Papyrus, Blue, and Pluto.

Remix.

And Tango.

Mutt. Black.

Ink, and Fresh. G.

Axe. Jaws.

Even Edge and Error, crazily enough.

Pink. His brother Jazz.

Arma.

…Dust.

And him. Sans.

She wanted… him. But she also wanted, cared for… everyone.

This was too complicated. And she was still too emotionally spent to be acting on her feelings in such a monumental, such a concrete, way.

So Taz pulled back, her smile hiding any indication of what indecisions may have just been thrashing about behind her eyes. For his part, she thought Sans might have understood her regardless, both her reasoning and what she wanted.

“i should probably be gettin’ back now,” he said, tone kind but still piercing Taz’s heart slightly, even though she knew it was for the best. “leave the damage control to me; it’ll all have blown over by tomorrow, don’t worry.”

“I hope so,” Taz said, smile a little sardonic. Sans just chuckled, standing from the couch and pulling her up with him by the hand.

“it will,” he said simply, slipping his shoes back on.

“I should come over early tomorrow morning and make breakfast for everyone. Helped smooth things over the last time something big and scary happened between us,” Taz thought out loud, referring to the only mass meal they’d all had, on her first night at the lodge. Sans turned to her with a lazy smile, lacing his fingers with hers so naturally that she almost didn’t even notice him do it.

“sound plan, sweetheart.”

“Well I’ll see you in the morning then. Goodnight, Sans,” she said, just barely catching herself as she realized she had very nearly tried to kiss him goodbye. As it was, she’d still leaned into him slightly; so she, instead, drew him in for another hug.

He was gone, teleported away with little more than a wink, the second she let him go and withdrew her hand.

Taz took a moment to calm herself, running her hands through her slightly knotted hair about a dozen times, before making a beeline for her phone and typing out a quick text.

**You (1:55 P.M.):**  yo Jazz

He responded almost immediately, which Taz was grateful for, if not suspicious of, since Jazz very rarely seemed to have his phone on him.

**Charmer (1:56 P.M.):** I’m here, gorgeous. What can I do for you?

Or _to you_ , which was the usual innuendo he would make. It’s absence here was probably due to the previous night’s antics. For all his and Pink’s unconcealed and open flirting, Taz was surprised to learn how easily they could tone it down when the situation called for subtlety or discretion.

**You (1:56 P.M.):** There’s something I wanted to talk to someone about, and you’re my guy

**Charmer (1:58 P.M.):** I was wondering when you’d ask, beautiful. My place or yours?

Taz rolled her eyes, but her smile was wide, knowing he was just messing with her to diffuse the situation. He’d know that if she was asking to see him privately at a time like this, there was something important she needed to pick someone else’s brain about.

**You (1:59 P.M.):** Definitely mine, I’ve got the comfier couch. Door’s open!

If she was gonna do this, Taz was going to make sure it was even possible first. Whether it would be _ok_ , she couldn’t say—and it wouldn’t just be Jazz she’d have to talk to about that. So, before she got in too deep and feelings got hurt, Taz was going to ask the person most likely to respect her for asking and still give her a straight answer without trying to lead her astray.

Despite his appearance, Taz trusted Jazz to give her all the truth and facts she needed to know about pursuing multiple skeletons in the house, at once.

Or maybe… all of them. If they’d have her.

Stars, what had she gotten into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And please do remember to go check out Sanuit_2526's story [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16251485/chapters/37996310?view_adult=true)! She has another new chapter up, which is (STILL) in my queue to be read! So excited!!  
> Also, JoMcIntosh has a great swap!Paps story [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14592375/chapters/33723786) that I recommend checking out!
> 
> As always, if you've got a story you're working on, drop me a comment to let me know! I'm always looking for new stories to read. (And for those that have recently sent me links, I'm working through reading them now! I've been a little busier than usual the past while.)
> 
> Ohayocon cosplays >>>  
> [Susie](https://alien-ariel7.tumblr.com/tagged/deltarunecosplay) (Deltarune) and a Lancer I met! She was super sweet, and so adorable.  
> [Fatgum](https://alien-ariel7.tumblr.com/tagged/Fatgum-cosplay) (My Hero Academia) and rave Fatgum, which is basically also half of my Team Skull cosplay. lol  
> And a sound-activated [skeleton mask](https://alien-ariel7.tumblr.com/tagged/the-final-stage-of-being-a-skeleton-fucker-is-just-becoming-a-skeleton) I figured you might all appreciate, since we're all dirty skeleton fuckers! lmao

**Author's Note:**

> Also, I have a tumblr! Give me a follow and I'll follow back--I'm looking to find more UT peoples.
> 
> [alien-ariel7.tumblr.com](https://alien-ariel7.tumblr.com)


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